The Great In-Between
by Calla3131
Summary: Set after the events of the season 9 finale, Steve McGarrett is forced to find his way in the great in-between. There, he will face the toughest decisions of his life.
1. Merciless

…**..**

**Hello! Thank you so much for choosing to read this story! This is my take on what happens after the season 9 finale, so if you haven't seen that yet, there might be some spoilers in here. Fair warning! **

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I **_**love**_** communicating with my readers.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**This chapter is going to be much shorter than all of the others, because it's really only a prologue. The other chapters should be longer – and probably better, haha.**

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter One: Merciless**

Azra spoke from behind me as we walked down the hall, towards the exit. I could barely register her words, moved as I was from her apology. She had watched me essentially kill her husband in front of her and her son, and yet she had come forward to apologize and ask to move on. Had he been alive, I knew that Joe would have loved it.

"You know, I ask God every day for His mercy…"

I heard her drop her purse, and then a smattering of steps, which I assumed was her young son rushing to pick it up for her. But then I saw the look in Jerry's eyes as he froze in front of me, facing her, eyes wide with fear and shock.

"Gun!"

I moved to turn and see what was going on. Had someone broken into headquarters while Danny and I had been talking with Azra and her son? Was it Aaron Wright?

Azra continued to speak, her voice strong and angry. "Because I have _none_!"

She was holding a white gun – likely some kind of plastic or acrylic.

And it was aimed at _me_.

As she pulled the trigger, my hand moved for the gun at my side, but I knew that it would be too late. She hadn't come to Hawaii to apologize and extend mercy. That had been a ruse so that she could get close enough to kill me and take her revenge.

Danny was rushing up behind her to tackle her, but it was too late to stop the bullet that had exploded from the chamber and torpedoed into my chest.

I felt it enter my body with enough force to send me stumbling backwards. There was fire in my body, rushing through my veins, bringing pain to every last part of me. I felt myself tremble with the weight of it, and then I sank into a state of just barely conscious, unable to move or speak. Only able to feel the pain.

And the regret.

If I had said no to meeting her… If I had never offered to walk her out… If I had asked her to simply speak to me over the phone… If I had reacted sooner when Jerry's face had told me that something was wrong… If I had let her walk in front of me…

"Oh, my God," I heard Danny say, and then I felt some pressure on my chest. But the area felt numb, and I realized that I didn't really feel much pain anymore. I was too weak for that.

There was shouting from above me and I tried to pick out individual voices, tried to hear what they were saying, but I just couldn't. I could feel myself slipping away.

I was jolted back to reality when my body was lifted and then placed down again. There was a rushing sensation, and I belatedly realized that I was being wheeled away on a stretcher. Dead? No, I could feel my heart beating, albeit weakly. And there was a needle in my arm. They wouldn't waste an IV on a dead man.

Another jolt as I was loaded into the ambulance, and then I heard Danny's voice next to my ear. "You stay _alive_, Steven. Do you hear me? You are _not_ allowed to die on me. No matter how bad it hurts, just _stay alive_."

I wished that I could tell him how very badly I wanted to, but I couldn't open my mouth, nor my eyes. I had to settle for thinking it very, very loudly and hoping that he would somehow get the message.

"Pulse is weak and thready," an unfamiliar voice said. "The cuff isn't measuring BP."

"What does that mean?" Danny's voice was panicked.

"He's in rough shape."

Danny's hand suddenly gripped my arm. "You're obviously not _listening_ to me, Steve. You. Are. _Not_. Dying. Not today. She is _not_ going to win, okay? We're almost to the hospital. You have to hold on until then, and then the doctors will take good care of you. Just hold on. Hold on."

If only he knew how hard I was trying. How desperately I wanted to live. How badly I did not want to let Azra win. I had so many more things left to do in this world before I passed on. I didn't want to miss out on my chance.

"We're here," Danny informed me moments later. "We're going to get you in there to see some doctors. Just keep fighting for now, okay? You have to keep fighting."

Of course I was going to keep fighting.

I didn't know how to do anything else.

I was moving again, and I knew that they were wheeling me into the hospital. As the stretcher jolted beneath me, a sharp wave of pain shot through my body and I felt a moan escape.

"There you go, Steve," Danny said from somewhere near my head. "Feel the pain. Stay alive."

Everyone around me started speaking at once, shouting out numbers and words that I had no hope of puzzling out. Especially not with the burning pain that had returned to my chest. I felt like I was going numb… drifting away…

"_Hold on, Steve…"_

Was that… my _father's_ voice?

"_Just hold on, son."_

That was _definitely_ Joe White's voice.

But Joe White was dead…

Right?

"_It's not your time yet, Steve. You just have to fight it off."_

Okay… that was _definitely_ my father's voice, and I was hearing it just as clearly as if he were standing right next to me.

"_You're stronger than you know, Steve,"_ Joe's voice told me. _"But for now, get some rest."_

"_You'll need it_," my father's voice agreed.

Suddenly, I saw an unearthly, blinding flash of light.

And then there was nothing.


	2. The In-Between

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. I tried to upload this yesterday, but I was having some trouble, for unknown reasons. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Two: The In-Between**

I woke with a start, shooting upright and instinctively raising my hand to shield my eyes from the intense sunlight. The air around me was warm, but pleasant, and it smelled faintly of the sea. Yes… it had to be the sea, because I could hear the waves rolling.

Slowly, I lowered my hand and took in my surroundings.

I was on Kauna 'oa beach, nestled on the soft sand. A gentle breeze ruffled the white button-up shirt that I was wearing – a shirt that held not a single trace of blood. A quick examination revealed that both my khaki shorts and brown shoes were also clean. Cautiously, I lifted the hem of the shirt, discovering that the bullet wound was gone.

No, not gone.

There was no scar.

It was like it had never happened.

"What in the world…" I muttered and rose to my feet, stunned that I didn't feel a single twinge of pain.

I remembered being shot by Azra. I remembered Danny begging me to hold on, the ride in the ambulance, the pain… But now, it was like it had never happened. Suddenly, I was on my favorite beach on the island, safe and sound.

And alone…

Stunned, I looked around and found that I was all alone on the beach. Though Kauna 'oa was never as crowded as some of the other beaches, it always drew at least a few people, no matter the time of day. The fact that it was empty was as bizarre as the missing bullet wound.

My hands went into the pockets of my khakis, searching for my cell phone. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found. In fact, I didn't have _any_ of my possessions with me – keys, wallet, pocket knife…

"What in the world is going on?" I muttered and pushed my hands roughly through my hair, stressed.

A moment later, it hit me.

"Of course," I mumbled, a bit relieved. "They had to put me under to do the surgery to take the bullet out. I'm just having a crazy dream."

I could recall the same thing happening after I had been shot in the abdomen while flying a plane undercover.

But my relief was short-lived, because I quickly realized that I was not alone.

Out in the water, gliding smoothly on a surfboard, was a woman. She was quite a distance away, so I couldn't get a good look at her, but I didn't feel like I knew her.

Odd.

Almost as if pushed by an invisible hand, I began to move forward, closer to the water. The woman seemed completely comfortable on the board, arms outstretched, blond hair streaming out behind her with the force of the wind. She laughed, and the sound struck me in an odd way, almost as if my heart was a xylophone and her laughter the mallet that brought it to life.

Shaking the odd poetry out of my head, I watched in surprise as the wave suddenly shifted (as waves often did), and the woman went flying off of her board and into the water.

I kicked off my shoes and was in the water before I could have a second thought about it. The water seemed to embrace me as an old friend as I kicked hard and sent myself deeper, swinging my arms as quickly as I could.

By the time that I had reached her, the woman was floating with her head above the water, trying to recover her board. As she did, I gently took her arm and began to reassure her that everything was fine.

"You're going to be fine," I told her. "I'll help you get to shore."

The look of incredulity that she gave me made her blue eyes blaze. "_Help me get to shore_?"

"That's… what I said."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, man. I don't have time for this today."

"That's an odd way to say _thank you_."

Again, she rolled her eyes. "Thank you for _what_?"

Growing slightly annoyed, I retorted, "For _saving_ you."

Her laughter struck me again in that same way, though I adamantly pushed the strange feeling aside to focus on my annoyance with her ungratefulness.

"Save me from_ what_?" She continued laughing. "_Death_?"

"Uh, _yes_?"

I was seriously beginning to wonder if she was on some type of drug. She didn't seem to be afraid at all of what could have happened.

Suddenly, her expression grew serious… and maybe a bit… _sad_?

"Ah," she said sagely. "You must be new here."

Confused, I shook my head. "No. This is my favorite beach on the island, actually. I grew up here."

Her smile was full of mirth, as though she knew something that I did not and thought that I was rather dumb for having not figured it out yet.

"Not new to _Hawaii_. New to _here_. _This_. The in-between."

Yeah, _definitely_ some drugs going on.

But just to indulge her, I asked, "The in-between?"

"That's what I said," she returned, almost mockingly. Then, she nodded her head to the shore. "Come on. I'll tell you all about it on dry land."

She began to swim back to shore and I watched her for a moment before deciding to follow. After all, I was only dreaming. What could it possibly hurt?

_But if you're dreaming, how have you never seen this woman before?_

I had read somewhere that you only dreamed about people that you had seen before, and I definitely didn't recognize the woman. But I shrugged the thought off immediately. Perhaps I had seen her passing by on the street or sitting in a restaurant that I was visiting.

Once she had reached the shore, the woman gracefully marched out of the water and then turned to face me, a pink and white striped towel suddenly in her hands. As she used it to pat her face dry, I looked on in shock.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" She began to squeeze the water out of her hair with the towel, seemingly unaware of the magic that she had just performed.

"_That_," I said, and pointed at the towel in her hands. "There was no towel waiting here on the beach, but you… you… suddenly, you just _had_ it."

When she gave me that same piteous smile, my annoyance flared once more. "Sorry. I keep forgetting that you don't get it yet."

"Don't get _what_?"

I was growing more and more frustrated by the moment, wishing that she would just tell me what the hell was going on.

"In the in-between, anything is possible."

To demonstrate, she snapped her fingers and her neon blue bikini was replaced with jean shorts, sparkly sandals, and a light pink tank top. Her hair was now completely dry and wavy, her face accented by makeup. She looked ready to walk onto a movie set to shoot, even though she'd just come out of the water one minute before.

Still stunned, I managed to get out, "So… you just… _snap your fingers_ and you can have whatever you want?"

"You don't really have to _snap_," she admitted. "I do it for dramatic flair."

"Very effective," I mumbled.

"The in-between is just that… the space between life and death. Our souls rest here while our bodies take their time to recover. Here, anything is possible." As if to demonstrate, she stared at my wet clothes until they were suddenly dry. Not just dry, but as if they'd never been wet in the first place. Not a wrinkle or stain in sight.

So odd.

"Why does it look so much like Hawaii?" As I spoke, I scanned the area, searching for any obvious differences.

I didn't find any.

"It _is_ Hawaii," she explained. "You can go anywhere that you've been before, or even a place that you've seen enough pictures of to know. People usually wake up in a place where they feel completely safe, calm, and secure. Obviously, this beach is that place for you."

I didn't see why it wouldn't have been my house or my office, but I pushed that question aside because there were far more important things to ask.

"And this beach is that place for you, too?"

Her smile grew a bit sad, and she turned slightly so that she could look out over the water. I got the feeling that I had touched a nerve; I just didn't know how.

"No. When I first woke up, I was at my old instructor's house in Rome. No one was there. I had to wander through the city for days before someone finally discovered me and told me what was going on. I've been here for two weeks now. It's been several years since I've been to Hawaii, but this beach was my favorite when I was here, and I always wanted to learn how to surf. I've been teaching myself."

I pushed away the panic that wondered if _I_ would be here for that long. I didn't have the time to freak out about that. I just needed to figure out how to get out of here and go back to my life. There were people that needed me.

"How do I get home?"

She turned back to face me, and I couldn't read the expression on her face. With a sigh, she began to walk and I instinctively fell into step with her, ready to hang on her every word to find the answers that I needed.

"Our souls reside here in the in-between while our bodies attempt to recover. The best thing that you can do for your healing is to try to relax and enjoy your time here. It's completely safe in the in-between – you can't die, can't be injured, and you can have almost anything that you want. You can even visit your body, though I think there are limitations on _how long_ and _how much_."

That gave me some hope. "How do you visit your body?"

"It's hard to describe." She seemed to be searching for the right words, and I struggled to remain patient. "You can't visit any old time that you want; your body has to be _ready_ for you. I can't describe what that feels like, but you'll know it when it happens. You can stay for as long as it will allow you, but you'll get kicked back here in time. Thankfully, while you're there, you won't feel any pain."

I thought of the gunshot wound in my body and was thankful for that small miracle, at least. But… "All of this is a lot to swallow."

She nodded. "You're not sure if you believe it. You think it's just a dream." Before I could ask, she answered, "That's what I thought at first, too. You'll just have to experience it for yourself before you can believe it."

"I didn't even ask you for your name."

"You didn't." She laughed and turned to face me, holding out her hand. A comedic glint shone in her eyes. "My name is Rose."

"Steve." I shook her soft hand. "So, what… happened to you? You know… to put you here?"

"That's not usually a question that you want to ask people." She resumed walking, and I did the same. "Luckily, I don't care too much. There was a man… Evan Reese."

"A boyfriend?" I guessed.

She shook her head, her voice grim. "A stalker."

This woman hadn't ceased to keep stunning me since we'd met. "Wow. He… attacked you?"

"He did." She sighed, staring straight ahead as if to steel herself to tell the story. "I was sixteen when I started getting letters from him. I did everything that I was supposed to do – told the police, took out a restraining order, moved away to make it harder for him… But it was like none of that mattered. Everywhere I went, he wasn't far behind."

She stopped walking and looked out at the water once more. When she spoke, her voice was soft and full of just barely contained emotion. "He finally caught up."

My stomach lurched, and I felt the anger course through my body. "I'm so sorry, Rose."

"Thanks." She cleared her throat and looked to me, forcing a smile. "What about you?"

"I'm a member of Five-O." At her confused expression, I explained, "Hawaiian government task force. Kind of like the police, but without so much red tape. Anyway, a woman came into my office with her son to put the past behind us. At least… that's what she told me. On the way out of my office, she shot me."

Rose winced. "Brutal."

I snorted in agreement. "That's one word for it."

"Well, you might as well make the best of it now." She held her arms out to her sides and spun in a slow circle. "Take advantage of true paradise. Think of it like a much-deserved vacation."

"But what happens next?" I asked her. "People don't stay here forever, right?"

"No." Suddenly, she was serious again. "The time will come when you'll have to choose whether you'll live or die."

Incredulous, I said, "But that's an easy one. Of course I want to live. There, choice made."

She smiled sadly at me. "It's not that easy."

I felt my brows furrow in my confusion. "What do you mean?"

She turned slightly and began to continue her trek down the shore.

"You'll see."


	3. The Coma

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Three: The Coma**

I didn't see Rose anywhere on the beach. In fact, it was rather easy to tell that she wasn't there because no one else was, either. An empty Hawaiian beach still felt unnatural to me in a way that set off fireworks in my stomach. It was just wrong.

I tried not to be too disappointed that she wasn't there. After all, it wasn't her job to be there for me when I wanted to talk. If I'd wanted to keep talking to her, I should have stayed with her on the beach instead of going to my house to rest in my childhood bed, unable to sleep.

It had been an odd combination of unsettling and comforting to find my house converted back to exactly how it had looked in my early teenage years. I had walked around for hours, just looking at and touching everything. The pictures, the clothes… but no people. No one had been there except for me. Hell, it didn't seem like there was anyone on the island except for me and Rose.

If she was even still _on_ the island.

She had told me that she had figured out how to move from place to place. Maybe she had decided that she was better off somewhere else. Maybe after weeks of being all alone in the places of her choosing, having someone else there was a bit too crowded for her.

Which sucked for me, because I still had no idea how this place worked.

Deciding that maybe a swim would help to clear my mind a little bit, I began to strip out of the clothes that I'd found in my closet this morning – khaki cargo pants and a navy polo. Normally, I'd want to check the shark reports, but Rose had told me that you couldn't be harmed in the in-between. A good swim in the calm waters without a chance of a shark spotting was just what I needed.

I waded out until the water reached my hips and just stood there, looking at the way that the light played on the water. Was it like that back in the real world, too? If it was, how had I never noticed how beautiful it was?

_Because that's a pretty damn feminine thought._

Shaking my head, I dove into the water and began to paddle, muscle memory taking over to guide me deeper and deeper into the ocean. It felt just like it had back in my SEAL days, when I had spent the majority of my free time in the water or training. My body responded easily, happily, and I found that I was able to relax more and more with each stroke.

And then I saw something… peculiar…

It began as a shimmering, what I thought was a trick of the light in the water. But as I got nearer, it grew brighter and larger, a big ball of light.

_What in the world?_

Rose's voice was suddenly in my head, reminding me that I couldn't be harmed. There was no reason not to check it out and see what was going on. Thus resolved, I swam closer and found myself needing to look away from the light frequently.

Finally, I was close enough to reach out and touch it.

But as soon as I did, I regretted it.

Everything began to spin, and all of the air was knocked from my lungs. There was blackness all around me, but I knew that I was moving at a high rate of speed. I tried to move – to curl my body so that I could brace myself for impact – but I found that I was unable to move. I was helpless to fight against whatever this incredibly powerful force was.

There was a blinding flash of light that made me cry out, and then the sensation of a jarring stop, like that of a roller coaster at the end of the ride.

And then there was nothing but darkness.

Nothing but darkness… and all of the sounds.

There was a steady beep, mechanical in nature. Along with that was a patterned whooshing sound, like all of the air being deflated from an air mattress. And another beeping sound… this one less steady than the first.

_Where am I_?

I thought that, perhaps, I had accidentally transported myself somewhere else in the in-between. Rose hadn't said anything about how that kind of transport worked, so I figured that it was entirely possible. Except… why would I be in a place where it seemed that I couldn't open my eyes? I had been trying for the last several moments, but it was like they were glued shut. Surely, I wouldn't have transported myself to a place like that.

And then I realized that there was a smell in the room that I recognized but was having trouble placing. I _knew_ that I had smelled it before… and then it hit me. It was the smell of sterilization. I was in the hospital.

_Are there hospitals in the in-between?_

_No…. _It hit me like a ton of bricks. _But there are hospitals in the real world. I must be visiting my body_.

This was confirmed when I heard a familiar voice.

Danny.

"Where are we on all of this?"

I longed to ask him what he meant. To open my eyes and see him and show him that I was fine. But no matter how badly I wanted to, I physically couldn't. It was the most frustrating thing that I had ever experienced.

It was Lou that answered him. "Unfortunately, nowhere. Harry said that the husband isn't saying a word, except to say that he wants his son sent to him."

"_In prison_?" Danny asked with his signature sarcasm. "They allow that over there?"

"Of course not." I could picture Lou rolling his eyes. "But he wants him sent to some of his family."

"Maybe we should just let child services deal with the decision." Danny sounded tired, and I couldn't blame him. He had to be under a lot of stress. In my "absence", he would be heading up the team, and that was no small task. There were reports to the governor that had to be done weekly, as well as reviewing the others' reports… and finding out if Hassan had orchestrated this whole thing, of course. It sounded like he'd gone so far as to recruit Harry Langford, a British Secret Intelligence Service agent that we'd partnered with on a few occasions.

"Any update on Steve?"

The voices were closer now. I could picture them standing on either side of my bed, staring down at me. I vaguely wondered what I looked like lying there. I hadn't been beaten at all – just shot. I was probably pale and the hospital gown likely wasn't doing me many favors, but I hoped that I didn't look absolutely awful, if only for their sakes.

"The doctor came in a little bit ago," Danny answered and hesitated.

_Tell me!_ I silently begged him. I needed to know what was going on.

So, apparently, did Lou. "_And_?"

"Sorry," Danny apologized. "The bullet nicked his heart, but somehow didn't cause any major damage. However, he was bleeding internally… so severely that he started to go into shock and then slipped into this coma. His vitals look good for now, and the doctor said that it would just be a waiting game."

"But he _will_ regain consciousness, right?"

It sounded like Lou was demanding rather than asking.

"They're optimistic."

Danny's words were cautious and slow, as if he hated having to utter them aloud.

All of the hope that had been building seemed to crash all around me, leaving me with nothing. It wasn't fair. I had been trying to make things right, and I thought that's what she had wanted as well. To show her son that things could be different and that revenge wasn't always the right path. What had that gotten me?

Shot. It had gotten me shot.

And injured so badly that I might never wake up.

Lou's voice brought me out of my reverie. "Did they say if he can hear us?"

"The nurse said that some patients wake up from a coma claiming to have heard things, others don't. It's a case by case thing. But she said it couldn't hurt."

"Steve," Lou said, his voice firm. "You are not dyin' in here, do you understand me? You are going to wake up in a few days, recover, and then get back to jumpin' off buildings in pursuit of suspects. You hearin' me?"

"I second that," Danny added. "In case there was any doubt."

"We're here for ya, pal. We won't give up on you."

I wanted so badly to tell him how much I appreciated that. How much I loved and cared for the members of Five-O. How I saw them all like family. That they were my true ohana. I wanted to tell them that I was fighting as hard as I possibly could, and that I wished that I knew how to fight even harder, but I didn't.

But, of course… I couldn't tell them.

Couldn't even move my own body.

All at once, I felt that spinning sensation once more, and I knew that I was about to have to leave.

_NO!_

I tried with all of my strength to hold on, but it was impossible because I wasn't even certain what I was trying to hold on _to_. I didn't know how any of this worked. But it was like… my body just couldn't handle having me there anymore. Like it took too much energy.

Just like Rose had said.

Our bodies needed the time to rest and heal, so our souls were sent to the in-between.

_I want to live_! I shouted to the void. _Let me go back and live!_

But just as Rose had warned me, it wasn't that easy.

In the next moment, I had sunk into the darkness.


	4. Understanding

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet.**

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Four: Understanding**

I was on the beach again, staring out at the water. It was a perfectly pleasant day; the sun was high in the sky and the sand beneath my feet was soft and warm. I was stunned at the disconnect between this and the hospital room where I had been unable to move or speak or even _see_.

Inhaling deeply, I ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated.

"Rough visit?"

I whirled around to find Rose lounging on a beach chair, dressed in a red polka dot bikini that showed off a toned figure. Sunglasses shaded her eyes, but I was willing to bet that they were closed. Her hair was fanned out, blowing gently in the breeze.

"You could say that," I answered her.

"The first one's always the hardest." It sounded like she was trying to be reassuring. "Not that it's ever _easy_, I suppose. So, what happened?"

"I couldn't speak. Couldn't move. It felt like… like I had no control over my body anymore. No connection."

"That's normal." She sat up and removed her sunglasses. "Well," she amended with a small shrug. "Here, at least. Certainly not normal back in the real world."

"I want to go back."

"Don't we all?" She stood, snapped her fingers for dramatic effect, and was suddenly dressed in denim shorts and a white tee. "You'll get that choice eventually. Just not yet."

"I know." I almost shuddered as I remembered the realization. "My body needs rest, and I won't be given the choice until it can handle having me back permanently."

"I'm impressed." She smiled. "It didn't take you nearly as long as it took me to realize that."

"I've had to accept harsh realities before."

She looked like she wanted to ask me what I meant, but refrained. "Well, what's your plan now?"

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "I mean, are you going to stick around Hawaii? Or are you planning to visit somewhere else?"

I hadn't even thought about going anywhere else, but there were so many possibilities. I'd traveled all over the world in my time as a Navy SEAL… maybe I could go and visit some of them. But…

"I don't exactly know how to do that."

"It doesn't take long to figure out," she assured me. "Just picture the place in your mind and concentrate."

"Hawaii has been my home for… well… my whole life." I turned away to look back out over the water. I could remember many a day spent on that beach, under that same sun, surfing or playing volleyball. "I've lived other places, but they never felt like _home_."

"I can understand that." I heard her move closer, but she stopped a few feet away. "I was born and raised in New York. Once I started my career, I moved around a lot, but… nothing ever compared to home."

A smile spread across my face as I turned to face her. "A true city girl, huh?"

"Guilty." She grinned and motioned for me to follow her as she walked away. "My father was a surgeon and my mother came from very old money. I wasn't planned, and there wasn't really room in their lives for a kid, so they pawned me off on nannies."

My heart ached for her. "My dad sent me off in my late teenage years – to military school, as cliché as that may sound – but I was part of a very loving home before that. After my mom died, it was just… too hard for him to raise me and my sister without her. But I can't imagine never feeling wanted."

"It wasn't all that bad. I never really knew anything different. My nannies were usually really nice, and my parents paid for all kinds of activities. Ballet, piano, voice lessons, languages…"

"So, you're well-educated."

"You mean, you couldn't tell that about me from our conversations?" Her tone was teasing. "I thought you worked in law enforcement?"

"Before that, I was actually a Navy SEAL, so I'm probably more observant than you know."

"Prove it."

"Okay."

I stopped walking and faced her, and she did the same, waiting patiently.

"You obviously lived in Manhattan, with rich parents like yours, but you don't like for people to know that. In fact, you have no discernable accent, because not only did you spend years studying other languages, but you've worked really hard to neutralize any accent. You speak… I'm guessing _five_ languages? You've taken several self defense classes, but nothing specific to any one kind of martial art. And… you're a Pisces."

Her eyes widened with surprise. "Wow. I'm impressed."

"Thanks."

She resumed walking. "I _did_ work really hard to keep a New York accent out of my voice. I speak English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German. I'm working on Portuguese right now. I signed up for some self defense classes once it became clear that my stalker was one of the more serious ones, and I was born February twenty-first."

"What about your stalker?" I wondered. "What do you know about him?"

I could feel her guard go up. She had trouble trusting people – especially men – but that was understandable after everything that had happened to her.

"I don't really like to think about him. I'm sure I'll have to do plenty of that when I wake up."

Yeah, she likely would. She'd told me that he was the one that had put her into the coma, which meant that he was likely still out there. Hopefully not at large, though. I hoped that pathetic excuse for a man was behind bars.

My curiosity was begging to be satisfied, but I pushed it to the side. If she didn't want to talk about it, I needed to leave it be.

"When did you visit Hawaii?"

That had to be a safe topic.

"About… five years ago."

Five years… I had been with Catherine then. I couldn't help but wonder if maybe I had seen her on the beach. Or maybe she had visited Kamekona's truck? No, not likely. I still didn't think I'd ever seen her before the in-between.

"On business?"

"Of a sort."

She was certainly a lot more secretive than I was used to.

"And you liked this beach?"

"I asked one of the locals which beach was the best, and he suggested this one. I was only here for a few days, but this beach made me want to move here."

She ceased walking and stared out over the water, a smile on her face.

I smiled back, pleased at how much she had loved my favorite beach. "I used to come here all the time as a kid. It was my father's favorite beach, and I guess he passed that down to me. We used to come here as a family all the time, even though we lived right on the water."

"It's peaceful here." She looked up at me. "I do regret not getting to see more of the island, though."

The offer was out before I could consider it further. "I could show you around. That is, if you're planning to stick around for a while."

Something that I couldn't read flashed in her eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came. "I was planning to stick around here for a while longer. I'd love to see more of the island. Especially from someone that knows it as well as you have to."

I frowned slightly as I began to consider the logistics. "Do people drive here?"

"Sure. Just picture your vehicle in the parking lot." She gestured up ahead to the empty parking lot. "Kind of like I do for clothes."

"Just picture it?"

She stopped walking, motioned for me to follow suit, and nodded. "What do you drive?"

"A blue truck." I pictured it in my mind. "Or sometimes my partner's Camaro."

"Picture whichever one you're more used to." She pointed to the parking lot. "Parked right there. Sometimes, it's easier to close your eyes. Go on, try it."

Obediently, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, picturing Danny's black Camaro. The way it smelled on the inside, the way that the paint on the outside shone after all of the waxes that Danny got, the small scratch on the rear bumper…

"Well done."

I opened my eyes to find the same Camaro suddenly parked in the parking lot where before, there had been nothing. Proud of myself, I smiled. "Wow. That's pretty cool."

"Isn't it just?" She smiled back and then headed for the car. "So, where are we off to?"

"That depends on what you're in the mood for. Sightseeing? Food? I guess you really can't see much of the authentic Hawaiian entertainment, since no one else is here."

"All of the above."

"Great. I'll take you to all of the island classics."

I opened her door for her, and she seemed surprised by the gesture.

"Don't tell me none of your dates ever opened the car door for you."

Her smile was a bit self-deprecating. "I actually never had many dates. But when I did, I can't say that they were quite so gentlemanly."

"You weren't dating the right men, then."

She blushed slightly as she slid into the passenger seat. "I guess not."

As I shut her door and then moved around to my side, I couldn't help but beat myself up about my comment. I didn't want to make it seem like I was flirting with her.

_But, aren't you_?

Sure, she was pretty and intelligent and good-natured, but she was the only person in the in-between with me. I didn't want to let myself feel something just because she was the only woman I had a hope of being around for who knew how long.

_Just keep your head on straight_, I warned myself. _Just have a nice evening and show her how beautiful the island is._

Right.

I slid into the driver's seat and turned the car on. "Ready?"

She grinned over at me. "Let's do this."


	5. My Home

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet.**

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Five: My Home**

"Tell me those aren't the best pancakes you've ever had in your life," I dared her as I shoveled another bite into my mouth.

"Mmm," she moaned in agreement as she chewed. Once she'd swallowed, she asked, "How in the world do they get such a pure coconut flavor in _syrup_?"

"No one knows. That's the magic of it."

"I'm so sad that I never got to visit this place on my last trip here."

"It's sort of a local secret."

"Well, I'll remember it for next time."

I cut into my pancakes again and smiled. "My dad used to bring my sister and me here every Saturday morning for breakfast. It's one of my favorite places to eat on the island. Oh, remind me to also make you try a malasada before we're done tonight."

Her eyebrows shot up. "A mala…. What, now?"

I laughed. "A _malasada_. It's… sort of like a donut. But _much_, much better."

"I love donuts, so there's no reason I shouldn't love a malasada."

"That's the spirit."

She chuckled and poured more syrup over her pancakes. "What's your job like? Is it kind of like a mix of being a spy and being a cop?"

"More like being a cop, just without all of the red tape that cops deal with on a daily basis."

"What's that mean?"

I pondered her question for a moment before I answered. "Have you ever watched a law enforcement drama on TV?"

"I think _everyone_ has seen at least one episode of Law and Order."

Laughing, I nodded. "Probably true. Well, you know how they always have to wait for a warrant before they go in and arrest someone or search a place?"

She nodded.

"We don't have to do that. When the governor who set up the task force presented the idea to me, she said that we would have immunity and means. No red tape. No waiting around for warrants. Access to all government resources. That kind of thing."

"Sounds like she really wanted justice to be served."

"Ironically, she was actively committing crimes." I gave her a brief overview.

Her eyes widened. "Wow. Unfortunately, she sounds like the majority of elected officials."

"A sad reality," I agreed.

"Were the subsequent governors better?"

"Ah, much."

"There's that, at least."

My plate was finally empty and with just a thought, I made it disappear from the table. Amazed at myself, I chuckled. "Wow."

She smiled. "You'll get used to it. The first couple of weeks are the strangest. I think that when I get back to the real world, it'll be odd to not be able to do that anymore."

"How long have you been here?" I cautiously asked her. I knew that she didn't like to talk about the incident or the stalker that had landed her here, but I hoped that question wasn't too forward.

"A few months." She tried to say it casually, but I could see in her eyes how hard it was for her. How much she longed to be back in her own body, in the real world. The in-between was great in its own way, but the real world was so much better.

"I'm sorry. That has to be incredibly difficult for you."

She tried to shrug it off, but the emotion was still there. "It is. But I imagine it's difficult for everyone that has to be here. I mean, if we had a choice, we wouldn't be here at all."

"I suppose, for something that's not a choice, it's the perfect place to rest. You can go to all of your favorite places, eat your favorite foods, have no responsibilities…"

"Yeah," she slowly agreed. "I guess it could be a lot worse."

"I guess I always thought that when someone went into a coma, they were just asleep. I mean… this place… it seems so…"

"_Real_?" she finished.

Nodding, I said, "Yeah. Is it? Real, I mean."

"As real as anything else, I suppose."

"Do you think that we'll remember all of this once we recover?"

I knew that I shouldn't care one way or the other. I should just want to recover and put the whole nightmare behind me. Except… it hadn't been a nightmare thus far. In fact, I was rather enjoying myself in the in-between. So much so that a part of me didn't want it to end. I knew that I couldn't stay there forever, of course, but… was it so much to ask that I be allowed to remember it?

She shrugged with a sad smile. "I don't know. No one has ever come back. Not that I know of, anyway."

"That would suck. To have _two_ comas in your life."

"No kidding. As I understand it, once you leave here, you don't come back. But I don't know what happens once you're back on the other side."

"Do you think… that maybe _we_ will remember each other?"

She pondered the question for a few moments while she finished off her pancakes. When she finally answered, her voice was very contemplative. "I'm not sure. We're obviously both real and experiencing this together, but I don't know if that counts for anything for whoever decides what happens after this."

"That brings forth an interesting question." I leaned forward and smiled so that she would know that I meant for it to be a lighthearted question. "Do you believe in God?"

She made her empty plate disappear and then sighed. "I don't know. I never went to church growing up, but a few of my nannies were Christian and I kind of picked it up from them. It seemed… I don't know… like something meant to give people peace. And I guess it worked for a while." She stopped and took a drink of her chocolate milk.

When it became clear that she wasn't going to add more, I prompted her. "But?"

"But too many bad things have happened to too many good people. I started to question things and no one could give me a satisfactory answer. So, I just decided to leave faith behind."

"Has your experience here in the in-between changed that?"

She sighed. "Deep question. I… I don't know. I haven't exactly experienced God here. Sometimes, like you, I question if this place is even real or if it's all a dream. But the bigger part of me knows that it's real. What about you?"

Clearly, she was done talking about herself and her faith. "We went to church on occasion growing up, but none of us were ever very serious. I guess I believe in God and heaven and hell and all of that, but I don't believe that you have to sit in a pew every Sunday to prove it. I just think that the good in your life has to outweigh the bad."

"I like that." She smiled. "And I'm guessing yours does, with what you do for a living. Getting justice for people and all of that. Is that what you always imagined you would be doing with your life?"

I considered that for a moment. "Not the Five-O part, no. I was incredibly surprised when the governor offered that position to me. But before that, I was a Navy SEAL and before that, I worked in Naval Intelligence. And that was very much my goal from the time that I was young."

"That's quite ambitious. I don't know a lot about the Navy SEALs – and I'm assuming that they like to keep it that way – but I know that they're one of the most elite special ops teams in the US. What made you want to do that?"

I grinned. "Part of it was the challenge."

She laughed. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"I also wanted to follow in my father's footsteps. He was a Navy SEAL for a while before he became a cop. And my grandfather served in the Navy during the second world war."

Her tone grew cautious. "Where was he stationed?"

"It's as bad as you think," I answered her. "He was stationed in Pearl Harbor and died during the bombing there." The words felt like they caught in my throat.

She reached out and put her hand over mine. "I'm so sorry."

"I never knew him, but I've heard nothing but great things."

"Clearly, that runs in the family." She smiled.

I smiled back. "You don't really know that much about me."

"Sure, I do," she rebutted. "And I've always considered myself to be a pretty good judge of character. You're one of the good guys."

"I try to be."

She withdrew her hand, and it surprised me how much I hated that. "So, what's next?"

"I think I'll show you where I work. The building has a lot of history, if you're into that kind of thing."

"I am, actually." She finished off her milk. "Shall we go?"

I stood as well and motioned for her to precede me out of the empty diner. It was hard to accept, as that place was very rarely empty. In fact, I hadn't _ever_ seen it empty in all of my years going there for breakfast.

"Having no traffic is kind of nice," I mused as we got into the car. "I'll confess, sometimes I turn my lights and sirens on just to get home."

She laughed. "I'm surprised at you. Isn't that illegal?"

"Immunity and means," I reminded her. "I can't get arrested except for something very, _very_ serious."

"Like murdering the governor?"

I rolled my eyes at her and started the engine. "Yeah, like murdering the governor. Trust me, you'd turn on your lights and sirens too, if you had to drive home in the kind of traffic that I face every single day. Don't you remember how bad the traffic was from your visit?"

"I didn't get out much," she admitted.

"Which we are rectifying right now," I reminded her with a smile. "Here we go."


	6. My Life

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet.**

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Six: My Life**

Even though I had expected the parking lot to be empty, I still found it incredibly strange.

"Welcome to Iolani Palace," I told Rose as I parked, waving my hand at the large building in front of us. "Formerly the home of Hawaiian royalty, now a historic landmark and the headquarters of Five-O."

She climbed out of the car to stare at the building, wide-eyed. "Wow. I didn't know that Hawaii had royalty."

"Up until 1893, when the monarchy was overthrown. Then, it was turned into the capitol building. Now, it's kind of a mix of a capitol building and a museum. People come from all over the United States – hell, the _world_ – to see it. It's the only royal palace on United States soil."

"I had no idea that Hawaii was ever a monarchy," she admitted with a sheepish smile. "Shows how much I know about my own country."

"It wasn't a monarchy for long." I motioned for her to follow me up the pathway. "It lasted from about 1845 to the overthrow in 1893."

"When did Hawaii become a state?"

"1959. August, I think."

Surprise was evident in her expression. "I didn't realize that it was so recent."

"Oh, yes. But most people considered it a state long before that." We reached the door and I dug into my pocket for my key card, which I needed to get in. Just as I realized that I wouldn't have it in the in-between, my hand closed around it and pulled it out of my pocket.

Rose laughed at the surprise on my face. "Magic."

"You can say that again." I swiped the card, the light flashed green, and I pulled open the door for Rose to enter first. "Did you want to go through the museum part first?"

"Sure. I like a little bit of history now and then."

So, I showed her around the first floor – the part of The Palace that was used as a museum. We looked at the old banquet hall, some bedrooms, and lots of art and other artifacts.

"How _did_ the monarchy get overthrown?" she asked me. "Peacefully, I hope?"

I chuckled at her naivety. "It was a coup. Although, most of the insurgents were foreigners that lived in Hawaii."

"Did they kill the king?"

"The queen," I corrected her, and pointed at a portrait further down the line. "That's Queen Lili'uokalani. She was the last monarch that Hawaii had. She didn't die during the overthrow, though. She died about twenty years later, peacefully in her home."

Rose stared up at the portrait, her smile almost sad. "I bet that day was terrifying for her. She wouldn't have known what was going to happen to her. And then she was forced out of her home."

"The rebellion was a long time coming," I admitted. "Without getting _too_ historical for you, the people had been unhappy for a long while. To her great credit, though, she genuinely was trying to make things better. She just kept getting blocked at every turn by men that thought they knew better."

Teasingly, she smiled at me. "Why do men always do that?"

"I wouldn't say _always_."

She rolled her eyes, but I knew it was all in good fun. "Of course, you wouldn't. Is there anything else to see down here?"

"No, that's it for the first floor. But you should come visit Hawaii sometime when they do a reenactment of the overthrow. It's kind of fun to watch."

"I'll keep that in mind."

I waved for her to follow me to the stairs. "Five-O headquarters are upstairs."

"Past these metal detectors?" she asked me, eyeing them warily. "Your job must be dangerous."

"You can never be too careful in law enforcement."

We both ignored the metal detectors beeping at us and climbed the stairs slowly, taking in the view below. How many times had I all but ignored that I got to walk into such an amazing place every single day for work? I wouldn't be taking it for granted anymore, that was for sure.

"Here we are." I opened the door to the offices. "I suppose we could have taken the elevator."

"Where's the fun in that?" She stepped past me and into headquarters, looking around at everything.

"This is kind of the main area where we meet to go over active cases."

She stepped up to the control board, intrigued. "What's this? A giant computer?"

"Sort of." I began to show her how it worked. "You can project things onto the screen. Took me a while to get the hang of it, but it's very useful in allowing us to all be able to see the screen at the same time."

Her smile turned teasing once more. "You mean, because you're a bunch of old men?"

I nudged her playfully. "Hey! I'm only… well, yeah, I'm over forty. What's considered over the hill nowadays?"

"Fifty, I think. You've got a few more years."

"How old are you, anyway?"

"Take a guess, Detective."

"Not a detective," I corrected her. "But…" I studied her carefully. "Maybe early thirties?"

"Good guess." She didn't seem offended, which was a relief. "Thirty-four."

"I would have guessed a few years younger."

"I'm not at all upset by that."

I laughed and motioned for her to follow me down the hall. "Let me show you the offices. So, our two youngest have these first two offices right here."

She took a quick look in each office and said, "_That_ one is clearly a man's office, and that one is a woman's."

"Who's the detective now?" I teased her. "You're right. That one is Tani's, and that one is Junior's. They're the newest members of our team. Tani was in the police academy before her… well… there was an incident and she works for us now. And Junior was a SEAL like me."

"Admirable." She moved up to the next two offices. "And these?"

"Lou and Adam. Lou Grover worked in Chicago for a long time and then came to Hawaii to head up the SWAT team. I really didn't like him at all at first."

She nudged me. "That's mean."

"It's okay. He didn't like me either."

She laughed. "Why?"

I shrugged. "We just… didn't see eye to eye on a few things. It's really a long story. But after a while, we became friends and when his SWAT job went south, I invited him over to Five-O."

"Well, that was sweet of you."

"He's an amazing guy. We're lucky to have him."

"And Adam?"

"I suppose that he's technically the newest member of the team, but he's been around for a long time. His wife… well… _ex-wife_ was a member of the team when it first started. He was a member of a Japanese crime organization for a while, but Kono got him out of that and they got married. After she moved off… Adam had a really hard time. But he's really proven himself."

"I guess that just leaves two more offices."

"Yeah. Mine and Detective Williams'. Danny. He's my best friend here on the island. And he's an adequate detective."

She laughed. "Why do I get the feeling that things are never boring with the two of you around?"

"They aren't."

She walked through Danny's office first, asked questions about the pictures on the desk, and then moved into my office.

Everything looked exactly the same, as if it had been completely untouched by time or distance. I could have sat down in that black leather chair behind the desk and gone straight to work. Except… that wasn't the truth… and that was a hard thing to swallow.

Rose strolled slowly through my office and I just watched how she took everything in as if she truly wished to know who I was. She asked a few questions about the things that she found, but otherwise just observed in silence.

Finally, she sat down in the chair behind my desk and gestured to one of the two across from it. "Have a seat, suspect."

Fighting a smile at her antics, I obediently took a seat. "Of course. How can I help with this investigation?"

"Where were you the night of August fifth?"

I huffed out a breath. "Wow. That was… a long time ago. This year?"

"Yes, this year." She was fighting to keep a straight face.

"I don't know if I remember. Why do you ask?"

"Because that's when the crime in question was committed."

"Ah. And which crime is that?"

"Oh, you know…" I could see her struggling to come up with something. "Vandalism?"

I could no longer hold in my laugh. "Are you _asking_ me or _telling_ me?"

"Okay, so I wouldn't have been a good detective. Good to know."

"Well, first of all, you wouldn't be questioning me in here, more than likely. We have interrogation rooms."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously? That's not just a thing you see on TV?"

"Nope. Come on, I'll show you."

Unsurprisingly, she wasn't a big fan of the interrogation rooms. A shudder ran through her as she slowly turned in a circle, looking around. "Has anyone ever escaped from one of these?"

"We've had some… rough situations."

"I don't think I want to know."

"Probably not," I agreed. She didn't seem like the type to appreciate bloody stories. "Our tech guy – and conspiracy theory expert – has an office below this."

"_Conspiracy theory expert_? You're joking, right?"

"No," I laughed. "But he's not as crazy as he sounds."

She raised an eyebrow in a challenge.

"Okay… he's a bit crazy. But that's what we love about him. Believe me, it took us a while to actually add him to the team. But he's been an incredibly valuable asset."

"I'm glad. So, what's next on the tour? No offense, but these interrogation rooms aren't exactly my style."

"I think it's time to go home."

At the question in her eyes, I waved for her to follow me.

"_My_ home."

My life.


	7. Stuck

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. I know that I fell a little behind because last week was crazy, so I think I'll update three times this week and three next week. That should catch me up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet.**

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Seven: Stuck**

"You know, I think I've changed my mind."

I laughed as I once again checked Rose's harness to give her some peace of mind. "Everything is going to be perfectly fine; I promise."

"And why should I trust you?"

"Because I've done this a million times."

One of her eyebrows shot up and she sarcastically replied, "_Really_? A _million_ times?"

"Maybe not a _million_," I grumbled and connected her line. "But enough to know what I'm doing. Besides, you said that nothing bad could happen to you in the in-between. What better place to try it?"

She looked out over the expanse of bright green trees, fear in her impossibly blue eyes. "You have a point. But knowing that I can't get hurt isn't taking away my fear of heights."

It was my eyebrows' turn to rise. "You're afraid of heights, yet you've always wanted to zipline?"

"I know, I know; I'm a complicated creature."

"Well, what better time or place to face your fears?" I began to hook myself up to the other line, moving with practiced efficiency. I could feel her watching me, so I made certain to appear extra professional and nonchalant. She was nervous enough as it was.

When I was finished, she asked me, "We go at the same time?"

"That sounds perfect. Would you like to count?"

She looked up at the line, and then followed its path downward. "That's a steep slope."

"Not that steep. Trust me, the guys that run this place take every precaution. It's perfectly safe."

She blew out a breath. "Maybe we should have started with one of the more remedial ones."

"But this one is the most fun."

"We should just go, or I'm going to lose my nerve. Are you ready?"

I laughed. "I'm not the one up here shaking in my boots."

"I'm not even _wearing_ boots," she huffed.

Laughing again, I stepped to the very edge and motioned for her to do the same. "Just like I told you, remember? Bend the knees and then kick off like you would against the edge of a pool. The line and your harness will do the rest. It'll even out towards the bottom, and that'll slow you down enough to land. Got it?"

"No, but let's give it a try anyway, shall we?"

"Brave," I grinned. "I like that. Here we go. Did you want to count, or shall I?"

"You do it," she answered as she moved to the edge with a shaky breath. "I'm ready."

"Okay. One. Two… Three."

I pushed off and watched as she did the same. When she let out a shriek, I couldn't help the laugh that escaped. We flew through the air, and I closed my eyes and just allowed my body to take in the familiar sensation. I had always loved the feeling of flying through the air.

"This is amazing!" I heard her yell, and looked over to see her with her arms spread wide, blond hair spilling out behind her. Her eyes were closed and the smile on her face held nothing but the purest joy.

It made my heart skip a few beats.

As I returned my gaze to the path of my own line, I saw a strange glimmer that I thought might have been the sun glaring off of a piece of the line. But as I got closer, I realized that it was much more like the light that I had seen that day in the ocean.

The one that had taken me back to my body.

_Is this it_? I wondered. _Is it time for me to go home already? It can't be; I'm not ready to leave._

But I had no choice. The line was taking me right towards the light and as soon as I reached it, I felt myself being lifted and spun away, awash in that strange sensation.

I slammed into my body with the force of a car crashing into a telephone pole.

There was nothing but darkness, as I obviously had yet to open my eyes from the coma that I was in. My body was sore, which was quite a surprise after how fantastic I had been feeling in the in-between. There was the familiar beep and whir of the machines all around me that my body needed to survive. And there was also another presence there in the room with me.

_Rose_?

Why that had been my first thought, I had no idea, but it was not Rose there in the room with me. I doubted that it was possible to visit someone else's body with them.

It was Danny.

And Grace.

"When will Uncle Steve wake up?" Grace asked.

My heart ached and I desperately wanted to squeeze Grace's hand and tell her that everything was going to be okay. I had watched her grow up, and I loved her as I would my own child. It hurt me that she was so sad about my present state.

"The doctors don't know much yet, monkey," Danny answered her, and I could picture his comforting arm around her shoulders. "Right now, he's stable, and that's about as much as they can ask for."

"But why's he in this coma?"

"His body needs time to heal. Once it has, he'll wake up and… I don't know… go jump off of a building or something. You know Steve."

I was offended at first… until I realized that nothing that he had said was inaccurate. I _did_ jump off of buildings on a regular basis, and a gunshot wound wasn't going to stop me.

"Do you think he hurts right now?"

The desire to tell her that I was perfectly fine and that she should stop worrying was almost overwhelming.

"I don't think so, monkey. The doctor said that that's what the coma is for. So that his body can recover. They don't really know what happens when people go into comas, but the majority of them report remembering nothing, even pain."

"Do you think that he can hear us?"

"I'm not sure," Danny answered. "Let's check. Hey, Steve! Your silence is an agreement that you will never drive my car again."

There was a silence as I internally rolled my eyes. _What a moron_.

Grace chuckled. "He won't be too happy about that. And I don't think it'll hold up."

Damn right, it wouldn't.

"Am I interrupting?"

The new voice belonged to Jerry.

"No, not at all. Come in," Danny answered. "Grace, why don't you run down to the cafeteria and get something to eat?"

There were footsteps and then Jerry asked, "Any improvement?"

"The internal bleeding situation has improved," was the answer. "The swelling in his brain is still going strong, though. The doctor said if it doesn't make an improvement by tomorrow, they'll have to do surgery."

I cringed inwardly at the thought of someone coming near my brain with a scalpel and some stitches.

"It should have been me." Jerry's voice was full of sadness and regret, and I longed to clap him on the shoulder and tell him not to be crazy.

"Jerry, she was going after _Steve_."

"Yeah, but I saw the gun. I tried to move forward and push him out of the way… I just wasn't fast enough."

"None of us were, Jerry. I tried to draw my gun and take her down before she could shoot, but I wasn't fast enough, either. She had the element of surprise."

"They want her extradited," he said with anger in his voice. "Lou and Adam have been at the governor's office all day to deal with that."

Danny cursed. "On top of everything else, we have to deal with _that_."

"Lou and Adam can handle it. Tani and Junior are in contact with Harry right now. We're hoping that he has some connections with Interpol and such that can help smooth it all out."

"Well, if anyone has international connections, it's Harry Langford."

"That's what we thought."

Danny hesitated and then asked, "The kid?"

"The Children's Division of Social Services has him right now. They'll keep him until they have an official order to release him to someone else."

"Who else? His father is in prison."

Jerry sighed. "Yeah, but he's still a powerful man, and he's demanding that his son be sent back to some relatives over there. Third cousins or something."

"That kid needs a _normal_ life away from his psychopathic family."

I couldn't agree more. I'd thought that _my_ family had issues, but they were nothing compared to this family's. First, his father ordered multiple murders to avenge his father, and then his mother also seeks revenge against the man that took away her husband.

To her, I supposed it seemed like a death. He'd been taken away from her and thrown in jail, with no possibility of parole. Maybe she would have preferred it if he _was_ dead, rather than just taken away from her so that she could never see him again. Her son would still grow up without his father.

_There are many kinds of death_, Joe White had said during one of my very first SEAL trainings with him. _But in this line of work, we focus on one in particular. Physical. Get down!_ And then he'd shot a gun at us as we all hit the deck.

Good times.

"If anyone could pull through this, it's Steve, right?" Jerry asked, sounding like he was demanding a positive answer. "He's… I mean… I always kind of thought he was invincible. Well, as invincible as a human man can be."

I heard the clap of what I assumed was Danny's hand on Jerry's shoulder. "He's recovered from a destroyed liver. He can recover from this, too. He's too stubborn to die before he's given me a few more heart attacks."

"And the coma?"

"He'll come back when he's ready."

I felt my body begin to kick me out, and I embraced it this time, ashamed that I was so excited to get back to the in-between. Part of me just really wanted to be where I could see and move and not hurt… but a part of me was also really excited to see Rose.

And then I remembered when I'd started to be taken away… how I hadn't wanted to go because I had wanted to stay there with Rose.

_Be careful_, I warned myself. _When it's time to truly go home, you need to be ready. _

_But for now_, the other part of me argued back. _You're stuck here. You might as well enjoy it._

And enjoy it, I would.


	8. Death

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. I know that I fell a little behind because last week was crazy, so I think I'll update three times this week and three next week. That should catch me up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet.**

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Eight: Death**

I found her on the beach, just as I had thought that I would.

She was lounging in a chair, reading a thick book. She was dressed in a simple black and white swimsuit that complemented her slender figure, and her blond hair had been pulled up into a messy bun.

As I stepped forward to speak, she beat me to the punch.

"You abandoned me."

I tried to fight my smile. "Not on purpose, I promise. I was pulled back to my body."

"I figured. How did the visit go?"

"It was… I don't know. Okay, I guess. But I almost wish that I'd never gone. Danny was saying that I might need surgery if the swelling in my brain doesn't go down. And my whole body hurts. It's not a pleasant experience."

"Yeah, I'll agree with you there."

She closed her book and set it aside, angled so that I could just barely make out the title. _War and Peace._ It looked thicker than some college textbooks, and I imagined that it had small print, as well. I couldn't imagine sitting down to read that thing.

"It was also depressing because Grace and Jerry were there, and they're both upset to see me this way. I wish that I could tell them that everything is going to be okay. But… I guess I don't know that for sure."

"Guess not." She gave me a sad smile. "But you can fight."

"Have you ever seen anyone die?" I blurted without much thought. "From here, I mean? Or does everyone here return to their body to live?"

"There was one guy…" She sighed and shook her head sadly. "I ran into him in New York City. He had tried to commit suicide, and obviously it hadn't had the desired effect."

I drew up my own chair and sat down near her. "How did he try to do it?"

She winced. "He shot himself in the head."

Surprised, I asked, "He _survived_ that?"

"Yes, but not well. He was pretty upset that he hadn't just died, and he maintained that if there was a choice, he would just choose to die. At that point, I didn't know if a choice was offered or God got to decide, or… whatever. But one day, there was a light that was clearly meant for him."

"Like the light that takes you back to visit your body?"

She nodded. "But different, too. Brighter. Bigger. He said that he saw the choice and wanted to die. He was cheering as it took him away, so I'm assuming that he got what he wanted."

"That's… really sad."

"It was." She sighed. "I didn't get to spend a lot of time with him, but I spent what little I had telling him how much he had to live for. That there were resources to help him if he was experiencing depression. But he didn't care. He'd thought a lot about it and had made his decision."

"This place has made me think a lot about my life and all of the things that I want to do before I die."

"Like what?" she challenged with a teasing smile. "Go on the biggest zipline in the world?"

I smiled back at her. "You know, that one wasn't on the list, but that's a good idea. I'll be sure to jot that one down."

She rolled her eyes. "But seriously, what?"

"I want to visit Australia. And take more time for myself… work on finding a wife and starting a family. Or maybe I could just adopt… I haven't had the best luck with women."

"You never told me how the relationships ended," she told me. "Just that they had. What happened?"

So, I told her about the few serious relationships that I'd had in my life and why they had ended.

When I had finished, she said, "Wow. Bad luck. But you can always try again. And I think that what you said was good. Take some time for yourself and figure out what you want and how you want to get it."

"You could be a life coach."

She rolled her eyes. "No, I couldn't. I'm too sarcastic."

"What _do_ you do?"

There was a long moment of hesitation, and then she said, "I'm a singer."

I couldn't have been more surprised if she'd told me that she danced naked on the streets of New York City. "Really? Like… what kind?" _Please don't say hip hop._

She laughed at my expression. "I don't think that you would have heard any of my stuff. I mostly sing classical, and I've done some Broadway shows. _Wicked, The Little Mermaid, Phantom of the Opera…_"

"Oh." I was even more surprised. "_That_ kind of singing. The actual hard stuff."

"You could put it that way." She seemed pleased. "Do you ever listen to Broadway music?"

"No, I can't say that I've ever really had exposure to it. But you could sing me something now, if you want. I've never seen the Broadway version, but I loved watching _The Little Mermaid_ with my sister when we were little." I paused and then added, "I'll deny it if you ever tell anyone that I said that, though."

She laughed and then thought for a moment. "Hmm… what was your favorite song?"

"I'm not sure that I remember any of them very well," I admitted. "It's been quite a while."

"Well, I'll need some musical accompaniment."

I held my hands up as if in surrender. "I don't play any instruments very well."

"Luckily, we're in a magical place where anything is possible." She winked at me, waved her hand, and music began to play. Moments later, she began to sing. "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete? Wouldn't you think I'm the girl… the girl who has… everything?"

I watched her as she continued to sing, her voice moving up, down, and all around. She handled each note with ease, and I quickly fell in love with her voice. It was smooth, clear, and beyond beautiful. Her years of training were evident in the ease with which she simply _sang_ the song. Her face held nothing but pure joy for the music.

As the music and her voice rose together, I found myself almost in awe, never wanting her to stop. Unfortunately, she did when the song came to an end a minute later with a long, soft note. The music stopped and she looked at me expectantly. "Well?"

Shaking myself out of the stupor that I had fallen into, I applauded, not knowing what else to do to show just how much it had touched me. "Your voice is incredible."

She blushed ever so slightly and waved my compliment away. "Aw, thanks. That's one of my favorite solos."

"Tell me about all of the Broadway shows you've been in."

So, she proceeded to discuss all of her past performances. She talked about her favorite songs, her least favorite songs, and the songs that were the most challenging for her. She talked about wardrobe and choreography and the crazy hours that she'd had to work on shows. By the time that she finished, I was somehow even more impressed. She was never going to cease to amaze me.

"Wow. I thought _I_ worked crazy hours. For some reason, I always imagined theatre – Broadway, in this instance, I suppose – would be such an easy job."

"A lot of people think that." She didn't seem offended at all. "They don't realize how many hours you spend outside of just _performing_ the shows. You have to go to voice lessons, dance lessons, rehearsals, promotions for the show… there's so much more to it than just getting up on a stage and singing."

"But you do more than just Broadway, right?"

She nodded. "I also record classical songs. You know, like… _Ave Maria_. Things like that. I'm not as wildly popular as, say, Taylor Swift, but I'm relatively known."

"As you should be," I agreed. "After hearing you just now, I feel terrible that I've missed out on so many years of great music."

Her laughter was like being awash in music. "You know, when we first met, you really didn't strike me as the type of guy to like that kind of music."

"Is that why you didn't tell me that you're famous?" I teased her. "You didn't think I'd appreciate your art?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "I'm not _famous_."

"It's all relative. You're more famous than _most_ people."

"I guess I'll give you that one." She paused. "No, I guess that I just didn't tell you that I was famous – as you say – because… it's caused nothing but trouble for me lately."

"Your stalker?" I asked cautiously, not wanting to scare her away as I had previously.

Her gaze suddenly seemed far away as she stared at the waves dancing in the ocean. "Yeah. If I wasn't a singer – a performer – he never would have seen me. And none of this ever would have happened."

"But then I never would have met you."

I had no idea where that had come from, but it was very true. Though I was far from happy that she had been stalked, I was glad that we had met, even under the circumstances. I didn't know if I could have gotten through the in-between all alone.

Her gaze turned to me and she smiled. "I guess that's true. You're not _all_ bad."

Deep moment over, I rolled my eyes and kicked some sand at her. "That's the last time I'll ever compliment _you_."

She laughed and stood up. "Time for a swim before dark?"

"There's _always_ time for a swim."

I raced her to the water and enjoyed my evening, trying to keep my mind as far away from my departure from the in-between as possible.

Because whether it was life or death for me, I knew that I would miss Rose.


	9. Peace

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. I know that I fell a little behind because last week was crazy, so I think I'll update three times this week and three next week. That should catch me up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Nine: Peace**

"Good morning," I greeted Rose. "As promised, I brought breakfast."

She eyed the box of malasadas with interest and then carefully picked one. "It seems like a thick donut."

"But it's even better, I promise."

"We shall see."

She took a big bite – not one to do things by halves – and smiled in delight. "Mmm."

"Right?" I took one for myself and thought for a moment. "Oh, but wait until you taste it dipped in coffee."

I thought for a long moment about my favorite coffeeshop on the island and, moments later, two cups of their best coffee appeared on the small table.

"Try that," I told her and demonstrated with my own malasada. "You just dip the malasada in your coffee. Don't double dip, though. Apparently, that's against the rules."

She laughed as she dunked her malasada in her coffee. "According to whom?"

"Lou Grover." I rolled my eyes. "I came up onto a crime scene once and was dipping my malasada in coffee, and he acted like I'd committed a crime worthy of capital punishment when I double dipped. He likes to act like he's a native."

"Maybe he just knows good food." She took a bite and moaned her approval. "This might be the best breakfast I've ever had."

"I told you."

"So you did."

We finished up our breakfast in silence and then just sat in our lounge chair, staring out at the ocean. Everything was so peaceful, especially with no loud crowd.

"Strange, isn't it?" she asked, almost as if she'd read my very mind. "No people? It took me a really long time to get used to it. Especially when I was back in New York City."

"I'll bet. That place is always crowded."

"You've been?"

"Only a couple of times." I laughed as I shook my head. "Not my kind of place. If I'm going to be surrounded by that many people on a daily basis, I need some beautiful beaches to escape to."

"That's fair."

"I think the strangest thing for me is the whole… _relaxation_ thing. Like… here, you sleep, but not really. You know? It doesn't feel like actual _sleep_."

"Because it's only your _body_ that needs sleep, I think," she mused. "Your real body isn't here, though, so you don't actually need sleep. The rest here is more of a… spiritual thing. Or emotional. However you want to think about it."

"I'm not a very spiritual guy."

That was putting it lightly. I hadn't darkened the doors of a church in… I didn't even know how long. Years. We'd never been the most devoted family during my childhood, so it had never become a habit.

"Do you believe in God?"

I smiled to try to lighten the mood. "That's a very deep question for so early in the morning."

"You don't have to answer." She looked away.

With a sigh, I answered anyway. "I believe in… something. I don't know. Mostly, I believe in science. I believe in being a good person. But heaven, hell… I suppose it's all _there_, but… I don't know if there's an actual being that rules it all. You?"

"I like everything you said."

"What a relief."

She playfully kicked some sand at me and then sighed. "Honestly, though, I'm more of a believer in the Buddhist faith. I follow their beliefs a lot more closely than that of Christians."

Rose truly never ceased to amaze me. "Do you meditate?"

Her eyebrows arched. "Don't sound so surprised. Meditation is very calming."

"I'll take your word for it. I've never understood the whole point of sitting with your legs crossed and humming."

She rolled her eyes. "That's not what meditation is."

"Then what is it?"

"There are a lot of different ways to do it. I like to envision a particular scene and then just let the thoughts go. If they start to get overwhelming, I ground myself in the scene."

"And that helps you _how_?"

"You've seriously never meditated before?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Then this will be your first time. Come on, sit up." She began to raise her own seat up, gesturing for me to do the same.

"Oh, come on," I said with a roll of my eyes. "We have to get down on the sand right now?"

"You don't have to sit on the floor cross-legged." She sat up straight in her own chair and closed her eyes. "Get into position."

"This is stupid," I muttered, but did as she'd asked anyway. What was the harm? Even if it was a waste of time, it wasn't like it was _my_ time.

"Close your eyes."

I looked over to see that her eyes were already closed, so I did the same, resting my head back against the seat. This was going to be interesting.

"Now, I want you to first keep an open mind and give it an honest chance."

Again, it was like she was reading my mind. "Fine, fine. I will."

"Good. Now, deep breath in, and then let it out."

We did that together.

"Okay. I want you to picture a lake. The bluest water you've ever seen; so clean that you can see the rocks and sand at the bottom. The shore is made up of rocks in varying shades of gray and brown; you can feel them beneath your feet as you approach the water."

Strangely, the more I tried to follow along and picture what she was describing, the calmer I felt.

"There are trees everywhere; you're deep, _deep_ in the forest. You can hear birds singing and the wind blowing through the trees. It smells fresh and clean there, untouched by the rest of humanity."

She should have been an author, as clear a picture as she was able to paint with her words. Her tone was gentle and soothing, much as I imagined a mother's lullaby.

"Now, you bend down to pick up a rock. It's smooth and round, and it's somewhere right between gray and brown. You hold it in your hand for a moment and then skip it across the water. It bounces one, two, three, four, _five_ times and then slowly begins to sink down to the bottom of the lake."

I was almost sad to see the rock go. I had become rather attached to it.

"But remember that the lake is clear, so you can follow its path down to the bottom. You keep watching it as it sinks, and you see where it lands. That's what you want your mind to be on. Whenever the thoughts become sad or overwhelming, find the rock again in your mind. Now, just open up your mind to all of the thoughts that bother you."

I did, and I was surprised at how easy it was to calm myself by going back to the rock at the bottom of the lake. I thought about the potential for brain surgery if the swelling didn't go down, but as soon as I started to panic about all of the things that could go wrong, I went back to the rock and felt calmer. Same with the shooting and my lifestyle.

Finally, I opened my eyes to find Rose watching me, waiting.

"That was… wow. Why have I never tried meditation before?"

She chuckled and nodded her approval. "I'm glad that you appreciate it. You should try it back in the real world. I'm sure that you see a lot of stress-inducing situations."

"You have no idea. When did you start meditating, anyway?"

"I started seeing a therapist after…" She paused and took a breath. "After I started being stalked. I was paranoid."

"With good reason."

She shrugged, but I could tell that it still bothered her. Something like that wasn't easy to get over. Especially, I supposed, if you ended up in a coma because your stalker had come after you and hurt you badly enough to put you into a hospital.

"If you ever want to talk about what happened, I'm here," I offered. "Not pushing at all, just… I can be a good listener."

Nodding slowly, she stood. "Maybe someday. If we run out of other things to talk about. Care for a swim?" In the next instant, she was dressed in a colorful swimsuit. "I plan to take full advantage of swimming in the ocean without the fear of sharks or bacteria or drowning."

With a smile, I stood as well and changed myself into swimming trunks. No rash guard necessary. "I'm always down for a swim. Race ya."

I beat her to the water, but she was laughing as she joined me and began to kick herself out to deeper water. I followed, diving in and out of the water and coming up only to splash her.

She was laughing when I surfaced. "No fair. I should never have asked a Navy SEAL to come for a swim. You're such a showoff."

"I take offense to that," I said and splashed her again.

She came after me and we splashed around in the water for another hour or so. When we were done, we swam back to the shore and stretched out on a couple of large beach towels.

"It's going to be so weird to go back and have to actually share the beach with other people," I mused.

"And watch out for sharks," she pointed out. "Because there are no sharks in the in-between."

"And watch out for sharks," I agreed with a soft laugh. "It might get a little overwhelming."

"Ah, but you have a tool to combat that now, remember?" she teased me.

"I remember. Whenever it's overwhelming, I'll just find my rock at the bottom of the lake."

And think longingly of her.


	10. Falling

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. **

**I fell way behind this week, and I do apologize for that. A member of my family passed away and there was a lot of travelling for the funeral and to spend some time with family. I'm going to take this as an opportunity to say that if you're feeling alone or like there's no way out… please reach out to someone. You're always welcome to reach out to me, but there's also a help line that's available 24/7. Take advantage. Your life matters. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Ten: Falling**

"I'm going to warn you that I've never fished before. I've _eaten_ fish, though. Are we going to eat these fish?"

"That depends on what we catch." I loaded our poles and gear into the boat and then helped her in. "Probably. I host a pretty mean fish fry."

"I _love_ catfish. I haven't had it in years, though."

As I started up the boat, I told her, "We won't be catching any catfish. We're looking for snapper or grouper."

"That sounds… not quite as appetizing."

Laughing, I pulled the boat away from the dock and we headed out for the open water. "If you like catfish, you'll like these. But it's mostly how you cook it."

"Which you've already bragged about roughly a thousand times. I have high expectations." She came to stand right next to me and looked out over the water. "It looks like it just goes on for an eternity."

"Not an eternity, but it does go on for quite a while."

"How did you come to find this secret fishing spot of yours?"

"It was my dad's," I admitted. "Well, sort of. It's a little more north than where he used to sit. He had a gift when it came to fishing. Come here and steer."

Her eyes widened. "I've never steered a boat before."

"I figured." I smiled and gently grabbed her arm to pull her in front of me. "Just like driving a car. Easier, actually, because there are no lanes."

She hesitantly placed her hands on the wheel and stared out in front of the boat. We weren't moving very fast, but I slowed down a little more just to make her feel as comfortable as possible. Then, I moved in behind her to reassure her that I would be right there if something were to happen.

The gentle breeze ruffled her blond hair and brought with it the scent of strawberries. She was dressed casually for the trip, wearing white shorts and a red tank over a red swim suit. Though she was obviously not entirely comfortable behind the wheel of a fishing boat, she exuded a self-confidence that was refreshing in the day and age of women being so self-conscious.

"Am I doing this right?"

Her voice brought me out of my train of thought and I smiled at her, though she couldn't see. "You're doing great. Don't stress about it. I told you: it's a lot easier than driving a car."

"I'll just remind you that I don't know where I'm going. I've never been to this super-secret spot before."

"As it should be. You're on course."

She glanced over her shoulder at me. "How do you know? All of the water looks the same."

I adopted a serious and slightly worried expression. "Eyes on the road!"

Panicked, she whipped her head back around and gripped the wheel tightly. It took about five seconds before she realized that I'd been joking.

"Mean!" she shouted as she laughed and threw her arm back to punch me in the chest.

I chuckled and pointed straight ahead. "We're going to stop right up here. Let me take the wheel."

She gladly stepped aside and watched me as I steered the boat directly over my trusty secret fishing spot. Once I had anchored us, I motioned for her to follow me over to our gear. "We'll be using squid pieces as bait. The snappers, especially, love them."

Her nose wrinkled involuntarily. "Sounds yummy."

"Haven't you ever had squid?"

"No, because I love myself."

I laughed and began to bait her hook. "It's really not bad. Tasty, actually, if you get it from the right place."

"What's it like?" She almost sounded like she didn't really want to know.

"Chewy."

"Yeah, no thank you."

"Here. Take this." I handed her my pole so that I could bait my own. "Watch the hook. That thing is sharp, and you definitely don't want me to have to dig that out of your finger. Or worse."

She eyed it warily and then held it far away from her body. "That does sound unpleasant."

I finished up my own hook and then waved for her to follow me to the seats in the back of the boat. "Take a seat and I'll show you how to cast."

Rose was a natural, it turned out, which surprised her just as much as it did me. She swore up and down that she had never fished before, but she seemed pleased that she had taken to it so well.

"So, now we just… wait?" she asked me.

"Yep. When you feel a bite, hold tight and reel it in."

She sighed and leaned back slightly in her chair. "How often do you do this?"

"Not as often as I'd like to. Five-O has been really busy lately. But I come when I can."

"It seems pretty peaceful out here. Maybe you should make it more of a priority. Though I could understand how that would be hard when you don't exactly work a nine to five job."

"Your job isn't exactly nine to five, either."

She talked a little bit about how she juggled her schedule and as I listened to her talk, I realized that I felt a peace that had nothing to do with the in-between or my favorite fishing spot.

It was _Rose_.

_Oh my God… I think I'm falling for her._

The idea of falling in love with her scared me more than it ever had with anyone else. Mostly because I couldn't be one hundred percent sure that it was _real_. The in-between was a place for souls to go for rest, but… I'd never heard anything about it before I had experienced it. What if it was all some big trick that your mind played on you in a coma?

And beyond that… what if we weren't actually as compatible in the real world as we were in the in-between? Here in the in-between, everything was perfect. The weather, the food, the environment… you could make it into whatever you needed it to be. Perhaps one could even make the argument that it was the perfect place to form a relationship, free from all conflict and distractions. But in the real world, there was nothing _but_ conflict and distractions. The kind that ruined all sorts of relationships, even the ones that seemed the most perfect.

And the most pressing question of all… Was I falling for Rose because she was simply _available_ in such a perfect environment, or was I falling for her for _her_?

Before I could think about it much more, she squealed and leaped to her feet, clutching her pole as it began to dance in her hands. "I got something!"

I set my own pole aside and moved to stand behind her, ready to jump in if I needed to. "Great! Just hold on tight and start reeling in!"

She did as I'd asked, alternating between shouting and squealing as she reeled in the fish. Once it was finally up, she shouted, "I did it! I really did it!"

"Good job!" I laughed at her enthusiasm and grabbed the fish. "This is a really good-sized snapper."

"What do we do now?" The excitement in her blue eyes warmed my heart.

I laughed again and went to put the fish into the cooler that I'd brought along. "We need to clean it pretty quickly, but let's put it in here for right now so that we can toast to your first fish."

Hours later, I let her watch as I made my famous fish fry.

We talked and laughed and I never wanted our time together to end.

_Falling hard_.

I so feared the landing.


	11. Reluctance

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Eleven: Reluctance**

The stars above were shining brighter here than I ever remembered them shining back in the real world. That was the thing about the in-between… everything was so _perfect_. It was borderline heaven. Except, you know, you weren't actually _dead_.

"Okay," I said as one finally came to me. "Would you rather be able to detect any lie that someone tried to tell you, _or_ be able to perfectly get away with any lie that you told to anyone else?"

Rose didn't take her eyes off of the stars above.

I knew because I had turned to watch her.

I'd found myself doing that a lot over the last several days, and it was a little bit disconcerting to me. She was fun and smart and kind and many, many other wonderful things, but… I didn't want to fall in love in some kind of alternate reality. But the harder I tried to keep myself from falling for her, the more rapidly I descended.

"I would… hmm…" She chuckled softly. "That's such a law enforcement question."

"How so?"

"It's about _lying_."

I couldn't see her eyes very well at the angle she was laying, but I knew that she was rolling them. It was in her voice.

"Just pick one."

"Fine." She sighed. "I guess… Well, I really don't like being lied to, and I don't think that I lie very often at all, so… I'd want to be able to tell if other people were lying to me. Which I feel like I usually can, anyway. I'm pretty good at reading people."

That statement had a challenge written all over it. "Oh, really?"

"Oh no," she groaned. "You took that as a challenge."

"Sit up," I commanded her as I sat up myself, shifting slightly in the lounge chair to face her. "We're going to play a game."

She sat up and rolled her eyes at me. "We _are_ playing a game, Steve. _Would You Rather_, remember?"

I rolled my eyes right back at her. "Well, we're going to _pause_ that game to play another one. I'll make three statements about myself. You have to guess which one is the lie."

"Seriously?"

"You said that you were good at reading people," I reminded her. "It should be a breeze for someone with your intuition."

Her eyes narrowed slightly at me. "Fine. Bring it on."

"Great. Okay. One: I've had a restraining order filed against me. Two: I've tried writing a novel. Three: I actually really like the way that I look in pink, but I never wear it."

Rose's head tilted ever so slightly to the left as she took in all of the information. After a few moments, she said, "Well, I could totally believe that someone would file a restraining order against you."

I reeled back as if I'd been slapped, because it almost felt like I had. "_What_?"

She threw her head back and laughed. "Come on, Steve. You're like a bulldog when you're after something. I can see someone being afraid of that and filing a restraining order. That doesn't mean that you're a bad person. Come on, tell me who filed it."

"I'm not even telling you if it's true or false yet. You have to tell me what you think the lie is."

"The lie is _obviously_ number two. I haven't seen you with a book the entire time that you've been here, and your room at your house didn't have a single book in it. Also, you _would_ look good in pink, but you probably don't wear it because your partner would make jokes about it all day long."

I was impressed, and I didn't bother trying to hide it. "That's correct."

"Of course, it is." She shrugged and settled back down into her chair. "I told you that I'm good at reading people. Now, back to _Would You Rather_. Which I am still _appalled_ that you've never played before now."

Settling back into my own chair, I answered, "I don't exactly hang around with the kind of people that would suggest a game like that."

"Fair. So… Would you rather be in a wheelchair or lose your sight?"

I flinched, though the scenario was not real. "That's a tough one. I guess… God, I can't imagine having to live in a wheelchair. I could still _move_ if I lost my sight."

"That's what I figured you'd pick. Your turn."

"Hmm… Would you rather… be able to hold a note for however long you wanted, or be able to hit any note able to be heard?"

"Oh, be able to hit any note, for sure. I'd be unstoppable."

"Something tells me you already are."

Before she could respond, a light appeared above the water.

A light that I recognized.

"Do you think it's here for you or me?"

She sat up in her chair and shrugged. "I'm not really sure. Could be either."

We waited in silence as it drew closer and closer, a burning ball of light that was only describable with one word: otherworldly.

As it drew near, it drifted to my side until it was hovering directly in front of me.

Rose gave me a small smile. "Have at it."

But the thing was… I didn't want to.

Rose said that she had seen someone go back to their body through the same light that took us for visits. What if the light wasn't here just to allow me to go and visit my body? What if it wanted to take me home?

While I was certain that I wanted to remain very much alive, I was also certain that I wanted to stay with Rose in the in-between for as long as I possibly could. I still had so much more on the island that I wanted to show her. There was so much more that I wanted to do with her.

"What are you waiting for?" Rose asked me, puzzled. "Don't you want to see how you're doing?"

How could I explain to her that I was afraid that I would never come back? Never see her again?

"Of course," I said, and reached out.

The light sucked me away and in just a few moments, I slammed into my body. It was a sensation that I would never fully grow accustomed to, but it was at least more familiar this time than it had been in the past.

Danny was talking to someone whose voice I didn't recognize.

"But you don't know when he'll wake up."

"Unfortunately, comas are extremely tricky. The swelling in his brain that was caused by the clot during his emergency surgery has gone down just as we'd hoped. The rest of him seems to be recovering extremely well. But comas are in no way predictable. We'll just have to watch him for signs of consciousness."

"Is there…" Danny's voice broke, which tugged at something deep inside of me. "Is there anything that I can do to help with that?"

"Keep visiting, like you do every day. Keep talking to him. We don't know how much patients in comas can hear, but some have woken up reporting that they heard nearly everything. Just keep encouraging him."

"I will," Danny assured him. "Thanks for the update, Doctor. I'll let everyone else know."

Footsteps started up and then faded away and then I felt Danny's hand on my arm.

"Did you hear that, Steve?" he asked me. He sounded tired, but I could hardly blame him if he'd been visiting me every single day and no doubt losing sleep worrying about when or if I would wake up. "You gave us a scare, but no more of that, okay? Tell that brain of yours to do whatever it needs to do to heal, and then wake up. We need you here. The team needs you. I… _I_ need you."

I longed to reach out to him and tell him that everything was going to be fine.

I equally longed to go back to the in-between to see Rose.

_What's happening to me_?

I should have been longing to be back in my own body. Instead… I was rather reluctant.

Because of _her_.


	12. What If?

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twelve: What If…?**

"Welcome back."

Whenever I returned to the in-between, it was always to that beach where I'd first arrived. I didn't know if that was supposed to mean something or not.

I looked over to see Rose lounging in the same chair as before, reading a book. She glanced up briefly to smile at me, and then returned her gaze to the page.

"How long was I gone?"

Time worked very differently in the in-between.

She shrugged. "I've gotten through several chapters. How's the body?"

I recalled that I hadn't hurt so much this time, and counted that a success. "I'm healing. The doctor was in the room and he said that the swelling in my brain has gone down. So, I guess everything is headed in the right direction."

"Good." Sighing, she set her book aside. "Was there something else that you wanted to do today? Some new food that you wanted to introduce me to?"

"I don't think so." With little concentration, I made a chair appear next to Rose's. After slumping into it, I closed my eyes and tried to forget all of my troubles.

There were a few moments of silence, and then Rose asked me, "Did something happen?"

"Not really."

"Steve."

I knew that there was no point in trying to pretend that nothing was wrong. She could read me incredibly well.

"I had an… interesting experience when I visited my body today."

"Okay," she said slowly. "Do you want to open your eyes and tell me about it?"

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes to find her sitting up in her chair, watching me and waiting for me to continue.

"Danny was there in the room and the doctor told him that it would be good for him to talk to me. He was saying that I need to get better and come back because they need me there."

When I didn't continue, she nodded. "That sounds… sweet."

"It was. But all that I could think was… _maybe I don't want to go back_."

"What do you mean?"

Frustrated, I blew out a long breath and stared up at the beautifully clear sky. "Maybe I just want to stay here. Indefinitely."

"You kind of _are_ here indefinitely. You don't get to just decide when you want to go back."

"You told me that the light comes and takes you away, but that you get to choose, right?"

She nodded. "Yes. To live or to die."

"But what if, maybe, there's _another_ choice? What if you can choose to stay in the in-between for as long as you want?"

She hesitated for a few moments while she gathered her thoughts. When she spoke, it was slowly and carefully. "I think… that would be a bad idea. How long can a body really handle being in a coma?"

"There are people that have been in comas for _years_ and then miraculously wake up one day."

"But you don't know what those people went through," she pointed out. "Or how badly damaged they were after they woke up. Why would you choose to stay here in the in-between?"

_For you_, I wanted to say, but I restrained myself. Instead, I shrugged. "It's nice here. Perfect. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want…"

"Yeah, but you miss out on a lot of interaction. None of your friends are here with you."

"_You_ are."

She rolled her eyes at me, but thankfully didn't seem to pick up on the hidden message there. "We _became_ friends here. But you have a lot of friends back in the real world that miss you. Don't you miss them, too?"

I thought of Danny and Grace, Junior and Tani, Lou and Adam… Yes, of course I missed them. I missed them terribly. That's why the fact that I was growing so attached to the in-between bothered me so very much. "Maybe the in-between is just incredibly addicting."

Rose laughed. "Of course it is. Like you said, everything is perfect here. You can't get hurt, there aren't any criminals, you can do whatever you want… Who wouldn't love this place? I think you just have to keep reminding yourself that you have a lot to live for."

The part that scared me the most was out of my mouth before I could stop it. "And do you think that we'll remember any of it? That we'll remember each other?"

She leaned back in her chair while she thought that one over. After a few long moments, she said, "I think so. But I don't know how real we'll think it is. I think that when we finally wake up, it'll all feel like a very vivid dream."

"So, how do we remind ourselves that it was all real?"

Her expression softened ever so slightly. "I don't want to forget this place either, Steve. Or you. But I think it would help if we _both_ focused on the most important thing. Getting back to our bodies. Choosing to live. For right now, though, we can just enjoy all of the great things about the in-between."

I wanted to tell her that, to me, _she_ was the best thing about the in-between. That without her, it wouldn't have been even a quarter as magical. That meeting her was easily the best thing that had ever happened to me, even if I'd had to get shot for it to happen. That the thought of ever forgetting her hurt more than anything else in my life ever had.

Instead, I nodded. "You're right. I think we were playing a game of Would You Rather before I was so rudely snatched away."

"We were," she agreed, seeming pleased that it seemed like her little pep talk had worked so well. "I don't remember whose turn it was, though."

"Doesn't matter. Ladies first. Hit me with your best shot."

She thought for a moment and then asked me, "Would you rather give up meat entirely or never eat a dessert again?"

"That's miserable either way," I groaned. "I love dessert. _But_… I love meat more. I'll go with never eating dessert again."

We continued to play for the better part of an hour, and then I insisted that we take a walk down the beach.

"I don't want to let myself grow lazy here."

She laughed as she stood. "As if you could ever grow lazy. I picture you as an old man, still doing your morning swims in the ocean. All of your grandkids begging you to let them put you into a retirement home. Still drinking coffee with butter for breakfast."

The first time that she had seen me put butter in my coffee, she'd been so disgusted that she had literally paled a few shades. I'd tried to explain to her the various health benefits, but she hadn't been able to listen. She'd insisted that butter went on pancakes and toast, but _not_ in beverages. I had countered by arguing that if she was allowed to pour nearly half a bottle of creamer into her coffee, I was allowed to have my butter.

"I still think that you would agree it's not half bad if you would only take a taste. You get used to it."

"I don't _want_ to get used to it. It's disgusting to watch."

I smiled over at her. "I think you'd be pleasantly surprised."

"I doubt that."

We argued back and forth a little longer, and then I splashed her with the water that was steadily rolling in from the ocean.

She splashed me back, we raced into the water to splash each other, and I knew that it had been a very long time since I'd felt this happy.

_But what if I forget all of this?_

The thought of it gave me a heartache that left me restless that night.


	13. A Different Kind of Defense

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Thirteen: A Different Kind of Defense**

"What are we doing here?" Rose asked me as we pulled up in front of one of the gyms that I frequented. It was, of course, empty; I was able to park right in the very front of the building.

"You're starting a class."

"A _class_?"

I unbuckled my seat belt and opened the door. "Yes. A class. I think it would be a good idea for you to learn some self defense before you go back to the real world. You know… just in case."

"I tried that once." She followed me to the door, seeming rather hesitant about the whole thing. "My schedule was too hectic to be able to make the class regularly, and it didn't seem to be much help in the end."

"That's because you had the wrong instructor. Not that the instructor was _bad_; I don't even know him. But you didn't have the one-on-one time and personalized regimen that you would need in your situation. We're going to focus less on learning all of the basics and more on the specific moves that you can use to help you incapacitate someone long enough to get away."

"I don't know…" As we walked inside, she looked around at all of the punching bags, weights, and mats. "This might not be a good idea. I could seriously injure you. I'm not always the most graceful."

"You can't be hurt here, remember?" I asked her with a smile. "Everything will be fine. But just in case, let's go ahead and start with some stretching."

It was less about actually stretching our muscles out and more about giving her time to get used to the environment and relax a little bit. So, I took her through a series of stretches and asked her questions about her favorite childhood things. I could tell when she began to relax, and I smiled to myself at my accomplishment.

"All stretched out," I announced as I rose to my feet and watched her do the same, the hesitation back in her expression. "We're going to start super simple, okay? I promise."

"How many people have you taught self-defense to?"

"I became an instructor when I rose up in rank in the Navy. I've taught a lot of people. You're in good hands."

"I thought the goal was to _avoid_ being in anyone's hands?" Though she was joking, there was no real strength in her voice. She was afraid to fight.

"Yes, that _is_ the goal." With a reassuring smile, I stepped closer to her and placed a gentle hand on her arm. "We're going to take it easy, okay? And it'll all be worth it when you get back to the real world and are more equipped to defend yourself."

"You were _just_ making the argument that we don't know _what_ (if anything) we'll remember from our time here in the in-between. This could all just be a waste of time because I might end up forgetting everything."

"Well, we have plenty of time to waste. I asked you if you could think of anything that you wanted to do today, and you said – and I quote – "_Anything you want to do_"."

She rolled her eyes at me, a little bit of her normal sass returning. "If I had known that you were going to want to do something _stupid_, I would have insisted on another fishing trip or something."

"I think that this will end up being a lot more valuable to you than another fishing trip. Although, we can certainly go fishing when we're done here. Now, you first need to know where the most vulnerable parts of the body are. Any ideas?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Head? Groin, especially for males?"

I smiled. "More specifically."

"You know, the balls."

I didn't bother trying to hide my laughter.

She grew annoyed. "Am I _wrong_?"

"No," I managed to get out between breaths. "Ah, goodness." I cleared my throat. "Eyes, nose, throat, knees, shin, groin, and top of the feet. Got that?"

"Eyes, nose, throat, groin… feet?"

"Eyes, nose, throat, knees, shin, groin, and top of the feet. Commit that to memory. I'll randomly quiz you on it throughout our time here. You need to know those striking points without having to really think about it."

"Okay." She closed her eyes for a moment to concentrate. "Eyes, nose, throat, knees, shin, groin, and top of the feet. Right?"

I nodded my approval. "Very good. Striking one of those points can cause immense pain and give you just enough time to get away."

"And that's the lesson for today?" she asked hopefully. "Now we can go and get some of those delicious pancakes and the hazelnut coffee?"

Smiling, I grabbed her arm as she began to walk off of the mat. "No. We're going to practice some simple striking moves."

"Simple for _you_ maybe," she muttered. "Okay, fine. What's first?"

"The best thing would be for you to have some kind of weapon on hand at all times. Pepper spray, a stun gun, a striker… But you can't have something in your hands at all times. So, your goal in these moments is to use as much force as possible on those most vulnerable points. Which are…?"

She answered instantly. "Eyes, nose, throat, knees, shin, groin, and top of the feet."

"Very good. Don't be timid. Use as much force as possible. The faster you can get away, the less likely your chance of injury. And a lot of times, if you show that you're not weak and defenseless, they'll just move on because it's not worth the risk of being hurt."

She nodded. "Got it."

"A lot of times, these people grab you from behind." Slowly, I moved to stand behind her and then grabbed her upper arms. "Sometimes they'll grab you like this and pull you close. The closer that you are to them, the harder for you to draw back and strike." I pulled her back against my chest and heard her gasp in surprise. "So, what can you do to rectify that?"

"Throw my head back," she guessed.

"That's one option. From your current position, which other vulnerable points do you think would be pretty easy to strike?"

She thought for a moment. "Top of the feet. I could stomp on them. That would hurt even worse if I was wearing a shoe with a heel."

I felt so proud. "Great. What else?"

"Umm… the shins?"

"Excellent. So, first you want to stomp on one of the feet. As hard as you possibly can."

When I said nothing else, she turned her head to look at me like I was insane. "You want me to _stomp_ on your foot?"

I smiled at her hesitation. "Maybe not as hard as you can, but you can mimic it. In a real scenario, you'd have so much adrenaline going that you wouldn't have the strength to hold back. For now, just go through the motions."

"Okay, so first stomp." She playacted like she was stomping on my foot.

"More heel," I instructed her. "The heel is the hardest part of the bottom of your foot, and you don't want to risk breaking a toe."

She nodded and did it again, this time hitting with her heel.

"Perfect. That should be enough to startle them. That's when they'll either loosen their grip, giving you a bit of wiggle room to get more distance to strike _or_ just giving you enough of an element of surprise to strike their head with yours. That should be a last resort, though."

"Why?" she asked me. "That's what they always do in the movies."

It was my turn to roll my eyes at her. "I'm sure you've hit your head on something in your lifetime. Did it hurt?"

"Well… yeah."

"Stomping on someone's foot causes little to no harm or discomfort to you, but striking someone's head with yours can cause quite a bit of damage to your own head, and you don't want that. Worst case, you could end up giving yourself a concussion. The face has a lot of bones, and bones are hard."

"Right. That makes sense."

"So, the hope is that stomping on their foot will cause them to loosen their grip just a bit, allowing you to either kick the shins, the groin, or maybe even just rip free and run. Let's try it first with the shin, okay?"

I walked her through what to do, and then she went through all of the motions from the beginning. After about the tenth time of that, I walked her through what to do if she were to kick the groin. She took to it quite well, but she laughed when I told her so.

"I'm no great champion of martial arts. I'm just very good at taking instruction. I guess that comes from working in a field where every little thing is criticized."

"I maintain that you could excel in martial arts if you gave it a chance. Let's try it with breaking a grip."

She had a bit of a harder time with that one, but she was still able to get it down after several attempts. We had worked up a little bit of a sweat, and my body was singing at the familiarity of our activity. I felt like I was back where I belonged.

"I think that's enough for today," I told her. We'd been at it for at least an hour, and I didn't want to risk making her sick of it. Besides, she'd made great progress. "Let's go and get some lunch, and then maybe we can get back to it."

"What for?" she teased me. "You said it yourself – I'm a champion of martial arts."

"I don't remember phrasing it quite like that," I laughed and motioned for her to follow me to the door. "More practice couldn't hurt. Come on; I'm famished."

But as I made my way to the door, I felt her moving up behind me very quickly.

She let out a battle cry and jumped at me, and my instincts kicked in. I spun, absorbed her momentum, and pinned her beneath me on the mat as gently as I possibly could, though she still lost her breath.

"The battle cry kind of gave you away," I told her, trying to fight my smile. "But I'll give you an A for effort."

She drew in a long breath. "Yeah, well… you win some, you lose some."

I suddenly became hyperaware of the fact that she was pinned beneath me and our bodies were touching in nigh every place. When her pupils widened, I knew that she had become aware of it as well. She drew in a sharp breath.

_No_, I commanded myself. _You're already attached. If you do this… well… don't make leaving here any harder than you already know it will be._

I cleared my throat, effectively breaking the enchantment that had fallen over us.

"Time for some lunch."

She nodded, seeming like she was still in a daze, and allowed me to help her to her feet.

"Pancakes?" I asked her.

She nodded again, speechless, and began to make her way to the door.

I eyed a punching bag as I passed and scoffed to myself.

_I'm the one that needs a self-defense class. Self-defense of my heart. _


	14. Tension

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Fourteen: Tension**

Rose was gone.

She'd been staying in the guest room at my house, and she was always on time for breakfast. Sometimes even early, when it was her turn to cook. But she was never late, and it wasn't possible for her to be sick in bed. It wasn't even really possible for her to be too tired to get out of bed, because sleep wasn't the same in the in-between. I mean, you could sleep, but… it was more for habit's sake than actually needing the rest.

_She's gone_.

Still, I walked down the hall and knocked on her door, hoping that it wasn't true. "Rose?" I called out and knocked again. "Breakfast is ready. I made bacon and eggs. I even added cheese to the eggs, just the way you like them."

No answer.

"Rose?" I knocked again.

Still no answer.

I turned the knob and pushed the door in, unsurprised (but still sad) to find the room empty. Her bed had been neatly made up, and some of her clothes were still there… But no Rose.

The panic set in far more quickly than I had thought that it would, and I found myself needing to sit down on the bed to try to play referee to my racing thoughts.

_It's because you almost kissed her during training yesterday. You freaked her out and she decided to leave and spend the rest of her time somewhere else. Or the light came for her and she gladly chose life without bothering to say goodbye. _

Angry with myself, I stood up and left her room, fair slamming the door behind myself. I stalked my way into the kitchen and the smell of eggs and bacon assaulted me in the doorway. Before, it had filled me with hunger pangs. Now, it just filled me with nausea. I didn't want to eat if she was gone for good. I didn't know how well I would survive without her. She had been the only thing that was getting me through the craziness of the in-between. Without her…

"Hey, you made eggs."

Startled, I whirled around to find her standing in the doorway, smiling.

"Smells like there's cheese in the eggs. Well done."

She was dressed in jeans and a Van Halen tee, her hair up in a ponytail. Most importantly… she was _there_.

"Rose!" Before I was even finished truly processing it, I had rushed forward and pulled her into a hug.

She made a sound of surprise, but then hugged me back. "Um, hi?"

Embarrassed, I pulled back and offered up a sheepish smile. "You were… gone. I didn't know if maybe you had decided to spend your time somewhere else without saying goodbye, or…"

"Just visiting my body." She moved past me to grab a plate and then began to serve herself some eggs and bacon. "I seem to be recovering pretty well. The doctor was saying that he wouldn't be surprised if I woke up any day now. So, don't be surprised if you wake up one day and I'm gone, okay?"

She was only half teasing.

"Ha, ha."

She sat down at the table and waved for me to get a move on. "Better eat your eggs before they get cold." She took a big bite. "They're delicious, by the way. The cheese was a good addition."

"One you've been bugging me about since I started making you breakfast." I grabbed a plate and began to load it up. "So, the visit was good?"

"It was. I didn't feel as much pain as I felt the first time that I had to visit, so there's been a lot of improvement. One of my old voice coaches was visiting me. Singing." She smiled, seeming suddenly far away. "It was nice to hear him again."

"I doubt that anyone could sound better than you." I joined her at the table and flashed her a smile.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Different singers sound better to different people. And every voice is unique. I always loved his because it's deep and rich. Plus, he sings mostly in Italian."

"One of the languages you speak?"

"Yes. I had a base knowledge when I went to Italy to study under him, and it was there that I perfected it."

"I used to speak the language," I sighed. "I've let several of my languages slip, unfortunately."

"They'll do that, if you don't stay on top of them."

We talked about languages, and then about travels, and then about food. Our plates had been empty for a long while when she finally stood up and sighed.

"Well, you cooked, so I will clean up."

"I'll help."

She rolled her eyes and began to grab plates. "That wasn't the deal."

"It's not like I have anything better to do right now."

Shrugging, she moved for the sink. "Fair. I'll wash, you dry."

We worked together in relative silence, until she accidentally splashed me with some water.

I splashed her, she splashed me…

And then suddenly we were pressed up against each other, sharing a breath.

_Kiss her_.

Before I could, she gently pulled herself away. "I should… get ready."

I didn't point out that she already was.

I let her walk away.

And I cursed myself for creating even more tension.


	15. Her

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Fifteen: Her**

"This is an even worse idea than the ziplining," Rose decided as she eyed the surfboard that I held out to her. "Why can't we just paddleboard or… swim?"

"We swim all of the time." I picked up my own board and grinned. "Surfing is fun. I think you'll love it, once you get the hang of it."

"_If_," she corrected me firmly. "_If_ I get the hang of it. Doesn't it take years and years to learn how to surf?"

"It _can_. It depends on a variety of factors. Your agility, your confidence, your teacher… too many to count. I'll do my best on the teaching end. So, the first thing that we're going to do is practice some good technique. As with anything, you need a solid foundation."

She watched me place my surfboard on the sand and raised an eyebrow, confused. "We're not even getting in the water?"

I chuckled. "I'm not going to just toss you and a surfboard together into the water and expect results. You need to learn the basics on land first, where things are a little more stable."

"Makes sense." She placed her board down beside mine. "Now what?"

After a moment of concentration, a piece of chalk appeared in my hands. "First, we're going to mark the very middle of the board." I knelt down beside mine, found the middle, and drew a line straight across, going over it several times to darken it.

"Um… why?"

"That's going to be our balancing spot. No matter the size of the board, the middle is the natural balancing spot." I handed her the chalk. "Your turn."

Once she had finished, she handed the chalk back to me.

I nodded my approval. "Now, we're going to mark an eye line. It's to help show you that you're in the right spot." I marked it on my board and then showed her where to mark it on hers. "You should always be able to see the eye line. If you can't, you're too far forward, and you're not going to be able to paddle as efficiently."

She finished that and then asked, "What do we mark next?"

"Nothing." I vanished the chalk. "It's time for some technique. The first one that we're going to work on is called the _slide up_ technique."

"Slide up technique," she repeated. "Got it."

"I'll demonstrate."

"Sounds good."

I laid down on the board just as I would have done if it were in the water. "You're going to want to come onto the board with your sternum on that middle line." I traced the eye line with my hand. "And I can see my eye line. My palms are right on that middle line. Also, it's important to keep your knees and feet together. Got it?"

"I think so, but it seems easier said than done."

"So, you're just going to want to slide down the board through the middle, concentrating on your _front knee_ coming to your chest. That should allow you to get the front of your foot to the middle of the board."

I demonstrated, coming up to stand on the board, knees bent and arms out for balance.

"See?" I asked her with a smile. "Not that difficult."

She rolled her eyes. "I guess I'll try it."

After she had adjusted herself on the board, I knelt down to tap her feet, which were slightly spread. "Keep your feet and knees together. Very important."

"Why?"

"Because if your feet and knees are apart, the tail goes up. Tail goes up, nose goes under."

"Ah." She nodded her understanding. "And then _I'd_ freak out and go under."

I smiled. "Not if you keep your feet and knees together. Your positioning is perfect now. Try the _slide up_ technique that I demonstrated."

She tried it, and I thought that she did relatively well for her very first time.

"Almost," I encouraged. "Your hands need to stay on that middle line as you're pushing up. You moved them out to the side. And maybe a little quicker when you're bringing your legs up."

She nodded and tried it again, making the improvements that I had asked her to make.

"Good. Try it a few more times, until it feels more natural. You still seem a little stiff."

I watched her as she did it a few more times, impressed with how much she improved in the span of a few minutes. She took criticism extraordinarily well, and channeled it into making herself better. Just like with learning martial arts, which had been going very well. She was easy to teach, and that was just one of the many things that I adored about her.

As that thought swirled in my head, I tried to fight against it. _She's the only other person that you have here. The connection that you feel to her is due to that._

But it wasn't.

And I knew it.

It was… _her._

The way that her laughter sounded like music that I wanted to listen to all day long. Her smile that seemed to light up the entire room. The enthusiasm with which she lived her life, especially after being put into a coma. Her voice that sounded like an angel's. The way she hummed while she cooked in the kitchen. Her teasing nature.

Just… _her_.

"Steve?"

I jolted out of my train of thought and turned my attention to Rose, who was standing on her board staring at me, hands on her hips.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"You haven't said anything the last few times that I've done it, so I assume it's good? It feels good."

I hadn't said anything because I'd been so busy thinking about all of the reasons that I was falling in love with her, but I didn't think it would be very smart to actually say that. "Yeah, yeah. That was perfect. Let's work on paddling out now, and then we'll put the techniques together."

"Sounds good."

I launched into an explanation, but truly, my mind was elsewhere.

And I knew that it would be for quite some time.


	16. Catherine

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Sixteen: Catherine**

"This is… _gold_," I breathed as I watched Rose on the screen, singing an incredibly dramatic song about the love of her life leaving her.

She punched my arm and stole some popcorn out of the bowl. "I was young and jumped at the opportunity to do an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Cut me some slack."

"I will not," I decreed and tossed some popcorn into my mouth. "It's… the singing is really good. The songs are… okay. But the storyline is just not all there."

"You've clearly never seen _Jesus Christ, Superstar._"

"I have not. And I don't think I want to."

"Wise choice," she agreed and shushed me. "The high note is coming up."

On screen, a slightly younger-looking Rose belted out a high, clear note that made my jaw drop in amazement. She held it for an impressively long amount of time, and then the song ended and the scene faded away.

"The whole musical might be worth it for that song right there."

Her cheeks pinkened slightly, but she waved my compliment away. "Steve McGarrett, music critic. Who knew?"

"If you ever tell Danny, I'll vehemently deny it."

She rolled her eyes at me. "I'll try to remember that for when I never get the chance to meet him."

"You still don't think that we'll remember our time in the in-between when we move on from it?" We hadn't discussed the subject at length, but I knew that was where she stood on it.

"I think," she said slowly, "that the in-between is for the soul. I don't think that the body and the soul regularly communicate all that well, so I think it will all feel like a dream to us when we wake up."

While that made sense, that wasn't what I wanted to believe. "I guess we'll see soon enough." Both of us were healing rather quickly.

"Possibly sooner than you think," she murmured and pointed to the TV. "Do you see that?"

I looked. "The guy in the soldier's uniform? Yeah, he…" But I trailed off as my eyes found what Rose had been referring to.

There was a tiny speck of light in the very center of the TV, and it seemed to be growing larger by the second.

"For you or for me?" I asked without taking my eyes off of it.

"Not sure yet." She grabbed another handful of popcorn from the bowl in my lap. "Give it a minute."

Once the speck had outgrown the TV, it hovered in the air and then began to move closer to us.

_Please, don't let it be taking either one of us back for good. I need more time with her, especially if I'm not going to remember this once I wake up._

To prepare myself for that possibility, I had been spending as much quality time as I could with Rose. We surfed, practiced martial arts, and just strolled all around the island. She was an incredibly easy person to be with, and I dreaded the moment when we would be separated.

The light drifted over to my side, and I felt my fear increase, though I tried my best not to show it.

Rose lifted the popcorn bowl out of my lap to move it onto her own and flashed me a smile as she dug in. "Have fun. I'll pause the movie for you."

Before I could respond, I felt myself being sucked into the shining orb and then flying through the air. I was more used to it now, but I still dreaded the rough stop at the end.

When it came, I internally gritted my teeth and just waited for everything to stabilize.

Once it had, I took a moment to quickly scan my body.

I didn't really feel like I was in any pain anywhere, so that was a positive sign. I also still felt detached from my body, which I was pretty sure meant that I was going back to the in-between after my visit. That made me happier than I thought it should have.

A voice spoke from my bedside, and I was a bit startled when I realized who it was.

Catherine.

"Oh, Steve. You go on countless ops in war-infested countries and come out with barely a scratch, but then get shot in your own office. I think that's called a cruel irony, Sailor."

That nickname that she'd always called me used to make my heart beat just the tiniest bit faster. But this time… it did nothing.

Curious.

She started talking about how she'd booked a flight as soon as Danny had called her to tell her what had happened, but I didn't focus on her exact words. Instead, I focused on how she was making me _feel_.

There'd been a time in my life when I had thought that I would marry Catherine. Hell, I'd even had a ring picked out and had been planning to propose before she'd told me that she was running off to the farthest corners of the world because that's where she felt like she needed to be. She'd actually lied about going on a humanitarian mission, when she had actually been given a secret op. That didn't really matter, though; our relationship had been ruined.

I remembered how I had used to feel so warm and peaceful around her, no matter what else had been going on in my life at the time. How it had felt like everything would be okay, as long as she was near. Even after Joe had died, I had been so glad to have her there with me for the rough times ahead. Had even thought that perhaps there was a chance that we would get back together.

But now…

I didn't feel that anymore.

There was affection there, for sure. And if she would allow it, I knew that Catherine and I would always be able to be very good friends. We had the history for it. But I didn't feel that all-consuming, romantic love for her anymore.

I couldn't.

Because I felt it for Rose.


	17. Entangled

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Seventeen: Entangled**

"Wow," said Rose, sarcasm dripping from her voice as she scanned the empty parking lot. "You're right. This _is_ beautiful."

I rolled my eyes and gently shoved her as I passed. "The trail is this way, smartass."

"Oh, the _trail_. Right."

"Hiking the Manoa Falls Trail usually takes a couple of hours roundtrip. Shorter, if you really book it. But I like to just take it all in. In my opinion, it's the prettiest trail on the island. And I know a great little secluded spot perfect for resting for a while and watching the wildlife."

"I seem like a _watch the wildlife_ kind of person to you?"

"No," I admitted and flashed her a grin. "But you seem very much like a _go with the flow_ kind of person to me. Trust me, you'll think it's gorgeous. The flowers are in full bloom and everything is just so… peaceful."

"Why do people like to hike so much here? Aren't they aware of the beaches, where you can just lounge around on a towel or splash around a bit in the water? Why do people feel like they have to go on _hikes_?"

"Hiking didn't actually used to be such a big attraction for tourists," I said. "But Manoa Falls became one of the first popular trails once that _did_ start up."

"Why?"

"It's relatively easy to hike, it's shorter than a lot of the others, and it's not too far from town. Plus, like I said, it's the most beautiful."

"Are we doing the whole thing?"

"Of course we are." I acted affronted that she would suggest that I would want to go for less. "The waterfall at the end is the best part. And I discovered a pretty easy way to get over behind the top of it. Hidden from view of the trail, but with an even better view of nature."

"So… we're in this for the long haul?"

"Duh."

To keep her mind occupied, I began to regale her with some of the tales from my time in the SEALs. She'd heard a few stories and had always seemed to enjoy them, so I tried to entertain her with some more. It seemed to work, as she asked questions and made exclamations here and there in appropriate places.

It wasn't long before we had reached the waterfall, and I smiled at the way that Rose's eyes lit up when she saw it.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

She didn't take her eyes off of it. "It really is. Wow."

I let her admire it for a few more minutes, and then I tapped her arm and motioned for her to follow me off to the side. "You can get an even better view from the back."

"I'm in." She followed me as I wove a careful path right along the edge. I watched her intensely to make certain that she didn't fall, but she was almost as steady as I was.

Once we were fully behind it, I guided us to the center and then pointed. "Look out there."

But she already was, and she appeared breathless. "How can something this beautiful exist, even _here_?"

"I don't know. But I've been asking myself the same question."

But I wasn't even looking at the waterfall.

I was looking at _her_.

At the way that her wavy blonde hair was blowing in the gentle breeze. At the graceful curve of her jaw and the flawless creaminess of her skin. At the confident, self-assured way that she always held herself. At eyes so blue, they put the ocean to shame.

How _did_ something so beautiful exist, even in the most perfect place on earth?

I wanted to ask her – to throw her own question back at her – but I couldn't speak. Couldn't even move. It was like that moment was completely frozen in time.

It wasn't long before she noticed that I was staring at her and when she turned her head, I could see the moment that she recognized the look in my eyes.

Because it was mirrored in hers.

An invisible force pushed me closer to her, and her to me, until we were less than an inch apart.

The air felt electrically charged.

"What _is_ this place?" she asked, her voice just barely a whisper.

"It's not the place," I responded in a murmur, and my hand came up to cup her face.

She leaned into my touch and closed her eyes. "Are you sure?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I'm sure."

Her eyes fluttered open slowly, and what I saw there sent a heat throughout my entire body. "Good."

Without hesitation, I leaned in and kissed her like I'd been wanting to kiss her almost since the moment that I had first met her. With passion, but also with tenderness. To communicate the love that I felt for her.

She kissed me back with equal fervor, her arms winding their way around my neck as our bodies collided together, fitting as perfectly as I had imagined they would.

It felt like I had been struck by lightning, but in the best possible way. No other kiss with anyone else had ever felt this way, and I couldn't get enough. I kissed her over, and over, and over again, as if she was the very air that I breathed.

To my surprise, she acted as if she could never get enough of me, either. She'd always been so reserved, and I had long worried that she didn't feel for me what I felt for her. But it appeared that I had worried over nothing.

I laid her down on the soft grass and as our bodies connected in every possible way, it felt as if our very _souls_ were entangling, joining together in something far beyond the physical connection.

The look in her eyes was curious as she whispered, "Do you feel that?"

"All of it," I confirmed.

She smiled, and I felt it throughout my entire being. "This _has_ to go beyond this world."

"It reaches to them all. I'm certain of it."

"Let's just be certain of right now," she whispered and brought my mouth back to hers.

I didn't complain.


	18. We Belong Together

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Eighteen: We Belong Together**

I woke little by little, settled deeply in a cloud of bliss. The night before came to me in bits and pieces, and I smiled as I opened my eyes to find Rose still nestled in my arms, sleeping peacefully. I couldn't help but stare, taking in every line, every curve, every color.

She was more perfect than one person had a right to be.

I was tracing a scar on the inside of her wrist when she woke up, blinking her eyes rapidly to adjust to the change.

"I never noticed this scar before," I murmured.

She yawned and gently stretched. "It's small."

"How did you get it?"

"A run-in with my stalker."

A burst of anger shot through my body, but I firmly pushed it away. He couldn't hurt her here and – if I had anything to say about it – he would never hurt her again.

"Well," I finally said. "You don't have to worry about that anymore."

Her eyebrow arched. "Don't I?"

"No." I coughed when the word came out as a growl. Then, I tried for a gentler tone. "Not ever again."

She sat up slowly, the sheet clutched to her chest with one hand. With the other, she swept some of her messy hair out of her face. "You can't promise that, Steve. The cops tried to say the same thing when the judge _finally_ signed the restraining order."

"That's not the same thing. A restraining order is a piece of paper. But _I_ can be there to make sure that he doesn't get near you again. Or, if he does, I can make sure that he knows what will happen to him if he ever tries it again. I won't let him hurt you."

"How do you propose to stop him back in the real world?" she challenged, fire in her eyes. "He's always gotten through security before."

"I can put him on the no-fly list to Hawaii. Have ports watched. And there's no way he could get through the security on my house, trust me. Plus, you're not entirely defenseless; you've come a long way in your martial arts training."

"Why are you just _assuming_ that I'm going to move to Hawaii?"

Her statement surprised me more than it should have. "What do you mean? Why _wouldn't_ you move to Hawaii?"

"Because I record in New York, my voice coach is in New York, and I love living in New York."

"You know what else is in New York? _Your stalker_. Why would you want to continue to live in the same city as him?" I sat up as I realized that the conversation was taking on a negative tone. How did a perfect morning go south so fast?

She was incredulous. "He's going to move to whatever city I settle in, Steve. That's how stalkers work. Surely you know that."

"Of course, I do," I answered, and tried as hard as I could not to sound argumentative. "But if you're here in Hawaii, I can protect you. I'd even have Five-O to back me up. He wouldn't be able to find you if you moved in with me, because the house wouldn't be in your name."

"He _always_ finds me." There was irritability in her voice, but fear in her eyes. "You shouldn't make promises like that."

"I can keep it." I just didn't know how to make her believe me. "But why wouldn't you want to move to Hawaii? There are recording studios here. And surely you can find another voice coach. And I think that you'd love it here just as much as New York."

"So, _I_ sacrifice everything and you get to just keep your job and your house and your life?"

When she said it like that, it didn't sound as much like a perfect plan as it had in my head…

"I guess I just thought that you'd want to get away from New York and all of the memories."

"The memories aren't in _New York_, Steve." Her voice was soft and her eyes were far away. "They're inside my head, and they won't be going away anytime soon. Do you even understand what it feels like to have someone torment you for _years_? To the point where you're looking over your shoulder, wondering if you'll ever get to have a normal life?"

"That, I _do_ understand," I told her gently. "But I know that my situation is different. I signed up to be in one of the most dangerous special ops units in the military. I knew that I would make enemies. You didn't sign up for that."

"No, I didn't."

It was silent for a few moments, and I gently reached out and brushed some hair off of her collarbone. "Hey, let's not worry about it right now."

"How?" she demanded softly, desperation in her eyes when she looked at me. "You're operating under this assumption that everything is just going to all work out once we're back in the real world, and that's not a sure thing."

"But we can both promise to _try_," I reasoned. "You felt the same thing that I felt last night; I _know_ that you did. We belong together."

In one swift motion, she threw the covers off and got out of bed, headed for the attached bathroom. As she walked, she was suddenly clothed in jeans, a loose white tee, and some sneakers. "I think I just need a little time away to think."

My heart pounded as my brain sent one message coursing through my body:

_You're losing her._

I jumped out of bed as well. "Wait. Where are you going?"

"I'll be back soon." She reached for the door.

"Rose! Come on, can't we talk about it some more?"

Her eyes were sad as she tried to force a smile. "Maybe once I get back."

In the next second, she had vanished into thin air.

And it felt like she'd taken my heart with her.


	19. Soon

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Nineteen: Soon**

I set my fork down and pushed my plate away. The spaghetti that she'd made (a recipe that she had picked up in Italy, she'd told me) was delicious, but my appetite just wasn't up for it. I had too many pressing issues on my mind.

Chiefly, _her_.

"Are we just going to pretend there's no elephant in the room?"

Rose paused her chewing long enough to take a quick look around the room. Once she was done, she looked back at me and swallowed her food. "I don't see an elephant."

Annoyed, I took a breath to keep my cool. "You know damn well what I'm talking about."

"Ah." She reached for her glass of water. "You're talking about your plans for the future."

"I want to be talking about _our_ plans for the future, but you refuse to give so much as one iota of thought to it."

Irritation sparked in her blue eyes. "You can read my mind now?"

"Last time I tried to talk about it, you stormed off to Italy and didn't come back until the next morning."

"But I brought really good wine and amazing tomatoes for the spaghetti sauce. That has to count for something."

I gripped my glass of water tightly. "Your avoidance maneuvers are getting old."

"Not quite as old as you constantly bugging me to think about a future that might not happen."

Exasperated, I asked her, "But it _might_! Why can't you just consider that possibility for a moment, instead of the depressing alternative?"

"I _have_ considered it," she snapped back. "I just don't want to make plans around it like you do. What if we wake up and don't remember any of this? We don't know how it's going to work when we finally wake up."

"That's no reason to refuse to talk about the possibilities. We need to have a plan _in case_ we remember."

In truth, I was fully convinced that we were going to remember. I couldn't see why the universe would have brought us together and let us fall so deeply in love only to rip us apart so that it was like we'd never met at all. I knew that we were going to wake up and remember each other.

I just couldn't say that, or she would balk.

She shrugged and twirled her fork in her pasta. "If we remember, then we'll find each other. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Whoever wakes up first just has to make the trip."

It wasn't as detailed a plan as I had hoped for, but it would have to do. At least she hadn't run off to another country this time.

"Sounds good."

"Just curious… why are you so dead set on this future thing? You don't know what's going to happen."

"And that scares you."

She stared down at her food for a few moments before she softly answered, "Yes. I don't like making plans when I don't know for sure if…"

I reached over to grab her hand. When she looked up at me, I smiled, "I'm not usually one to preach about faith, but have some, okay? This place… meeting each other… it was a gift. I don't really think that the universe would be _that_ cruel. Not after all we've already had to endure."

Her mouth pressed into a grim line. "The universe can be pretty cruel sometimes, Steve. Hell, _you've_ experienced enough in your life to know that."

I nodded. "I have. So, I'm due for a little bit of good luck, don't you think?"

She cracked a smile. "It doesn't really matter what _I_ think. The universe doesn't usually ask for my opinion."

"What a shame." I let go of her hand and pulled my plate close to me once more. "It would be a shame to waste this wonderful spaghetti."

But her eyes were focused on something behind me, her expression solemn once more. "I don't think the universe cares about your spaghetti."

I twisted in my chair to see a familiar light coming toward me, growing larger and larger by the second.

"Damn," I muttered as I set my fork aside.

She sighed from behind me. "I guess I'll see you… soon?"

I turned to find her looking at me uncertainly.

Nervous.

I gave her a reassuring smile. "Soon. Very soon. Either here or on the other side."

Then the light was upon me, swallowing me whole.

There was the familiar rush.

And then the crash landing.

But I heard nothing.

Confused, I waited and listened harder.

But still, nothing.

_Oh no… Did I come back for good? _

It hit me like a sucker punch to my face.

I was back to feel how well my body was healing, not because anything important was happening.

I took a mental inventory of all of my body parts and realized that I actually felt great.

Almost healed.

The panic set in as I felt myself being jerked backwards. In that instant, I knew that this would be my last visit to my body.

The next time that the light came for me, it would be to take me back home permanently.

_Please, please_, I pleaded to whatever force was in charge of such things. _When I wake up, let me remember everything. Let me remember Rose. Let us find each other. _

And from nowhere and everywhere, a soft voice answered,

_Soon._


	20. Don't Cry For Me

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to put up two chapters a week in addition to the one chapter a week of my other story, and I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up, haha. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty: Don't Cry For Me**

I arrived back at my house instead of at the beach like I usually did, which was a bit disorienting. I had been fully prepared to find Rose lounging on the beach, reading a book while she waited for me to come back.

But just as I was about to send myself down to our beach to look for her, I heard the singing coming from the kitchen.

_Rose._

Smiling, I moved that way as I continued to listen, amazed that someone could sound that great without editing. Even after years of voice coaching.

"I had to let it happen; I had to change. Couldn't stay all my life down at heel… looking out the window, staying out of the sun. So, I chose freedom. Running around, trying everything new, but nothing impressed me at all. I never expected it to."

She was at the kitchen sink, washing the dishes. She always did it by hand, even though I'd reminded her that she could very easily snap her fingers to clean and put them away. But she claimed that she liked doing the dishes. It calmed her, supposedly.

After a breath, she continued to scrub and sing. "Don't cry for me, Argentina. The truth is, I never left you. All through my wild days, my mad existence… I kept my promise. Don't keep your distance."

She must have seen me in her peripheral vision, then, because she jumped and dropped a pan back into the soapy water, splashing herself. "Jesus!"

Laughing, I moved forward to get her a fresh dish towel. "Sorry. I just got back and was enjoying the show. It's not every day that you get to hear an award-winning singer in your own kitchen."

Rose snatched the towel out of my hand, still annoyed, and began to dab at the water on her shirt and shorts. "I was just cleaning up the dinner."

"I noticed." With my hip, I gently nudged her aside so that I could reach in and get the pan that she'd dropped. "I'll finish up. Are you in the mood for shaved ice?"

"When am I _not_ in the mood for shaved ice?"

I smiled. "Good point. Do you want to change?"

With an overexaggerated snap of her fingers, her outfit was entirely changed to white shorts, a pink tank, and sparkly shoes.

"Or that."

She laughed and moved for the door. "I'll drive!"

"No way!" I called back and abandoned the pan, confident that it would clean itself. I wasn't as good at making things magically happen as Rose was (she'd been here longer, after all), but I could do that much.

We playfully fought over the driver's side, and I let her win after she pulled off a very impressive self defense move.

"Nice one," I congratulated her, proud. "You improve more and more every single day."

"I have a good teacher." She winked at me and then started up my truck. "Maybe I'll even take you down one of these days."

I laughed. "Don't count on it. I've been doing this for years."

"You said that I have a lot of natural talent."

"You do. Not at directions, apparently; you're going the wrong way."

She cursed and made a U-turn that crashed me into the window.

"Hey!"

She winced. "Sorry."

"Maybe we should do driving lessons next."

"Ha! You're not exactly the best driver either, you know."

"Better than _that_."

We continued to playfully argue all the way to the shaved ice stand, where we both got large shaved ices and then went to go and sit on the beach. After chatting about inconsequential things for a while, Rose sighed.

"I don't want to leave this place."

"Yeah," I sighed. "I don't, either. But we have to."

Her expression was more serious than I'd ever seen it when she looked over at me. "And you really think we'll remember all of this? That we'll wake up certain that it was real and not a dream?"

Knowing that she needed more than just a simple yes or no to her question, I took a moment to think about it.

Finally, I sighed. "I think… I think that what we have is too great to just disappear because we wake up. Whatever the in-between is, it's real. I think that the universe knows that we both deserve a great love after everything we've been through."

"And what happens after we wake up and find each other? Things just magically fall into place?" The disbelief was evident in her voice.

"Of course not. We make a plan and figure out how to make it work. We fight like every other couple in the world. I'm not saying that there's not a lot to figure out; I'm just saying that we can do that together because it's worth it."

"It is," she agreed and finally smiled again. "You've become quite the philosopher, Steve McGarrett."

"You _make_ me a philosopher." I gently tugged her into my side and kissed her hair, warmed from the sub. "Feeling better."

"Still nervous. Scared. Anxious. But a little better."

When I tilted her face up towards mine, I could see tears in her eyes, but she had a small smile on her face.

I smiled back at her. "Don't cry for me, Argentina."

Her blue eyes rolled. "Shut up."

"Okay," I agreed and pulled her back with me so that we were both lying on the sand, snuggled together.

Where I would have willingly stayed for always.


	21. Choices

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to work extra hard and even put up two chapters on several days, in addition to at least one chapter every day. I have most of them written already, though, so I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which might even be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty-One: Choices**

"I can't believe that I agreed to this," I mumbled as Rose handed me a microphone.

Her blue eyes twinkled so brightly and her smile was so radiant that it was almost worth it.

Almost.

"A bet is a bet," she replied and settled onto the stool next to mine. "And I won. To the victor go the spoils."

"What made me agree to this?"

"We were in bed and-"

I held up my hand to cut her off, sending her a wink and a smile. "Never mind. I remember now."

She rolled her eyes at me and withdrew a small remote from her pocket. "Are you ready? You're sure you know the song?"

"Aren't the lyrics going to be up on the screen?"

I'd taken us to a karaoke bar, where I was to sing a duet with Rose because I had – rather unfortunately – lost a bet with her. I'd already taken a couple of shots to prepare myself while Rose had set up the lights and the music like a pro.

The first words were already up on the screen, just waiting for Rose to push play.

"Yes," she allowed, "but it's a lot better for your confidence – and, therefore, your _performance_ – if you're already pretty familiar with the song. We can pick a different one, if you want. There are a lot of options."

"I know this one," I assured her and sighed, not at all proud. "I went through a bit of a country phase many years ago, and this was a popular song back then."

The mirth in her eyes made me want to playfully shove her off of her stool, as did her next words. "Did you wear a cowboy hat and everything?"

"I _have_ worn a cowboy hat in the past, yes, and I'm pretty damn sexy in it, too. Bonus points, too, because I can also saddle and ride a horse. Joe taught me."

"Hats off to him, then. No pun intended." She pointed the remote at the screen and then looked at me, raising her eyebrows. "Ready? You start."

I inhaled deeply and then let it out in a rush as my heart began to beat faster, pumping adrenaline through my body.

I was nervous.

"Yes."

"Then here we go."

She pressed play, and the familiar music began.

As the words began to light up on the screen, I began to sing.

"_Livin' my life in a slow hell. Different girl every night at the hotel. I ain't seen the sunshine in three damn days. Been fuelin' up on cocaine and whiskey, wish I had a good girl to miss me. Lord, I wonder if I'll ever change my ways. I put your picture away, sat down and cried today. I can't look at you while I'm lyin' next to her. I put your picture away, sat down and cried today. I can't look at you, while I'm lyin next to her."_

After the briefest of pauses, she picked up where I had left off. "_I called you last night in the hotel. Everyone knows, but they won't tell. But their half-hearted smiles tell me something just ain't right…"_

She continued to sing and I watched, mesmerized by both her voice and the expression on her face as she sang. Her passion for singing was practically a halo of light that surrounded her. I could have listened to her on repeat for the rest of my life.

Too soon, the song ended and we were left smiling at each other, basking together in our incredible duet.

She broke the silence first. "Not bad."

I laughed. "That's quite a compliment from a professional singer."

"Has anyone else ever heard you sing?"

"Rarely," I answered her. "Although, sometimes I…"

But I trailed off as the light appeared near the front door, growing and morphing into a door of its own, its bright light filling the space.

"That's weird," I muttered as I continued to watch it. "It's not moving. Usually it comes forward and swallows you."

Rose stood, and the look on her face was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was almost like she was in some sort of trance, unable to take her eyes away from the light.

"It's for me," she said, her voice so soft that I didn't register her words at first.

When I did, I knew what she meant, and the force of that knowledge hit me like a blast from a grenade. "You mean… it's time for you to go home?"

"To _choose_," she corrected and finally shifted to face me, her conflicting emotions warring in her eyes. "I have to choose to live or die."

"Obviously, there's no real choice there," I stated firmly.

She nodded, and a tear fell. "But I tried to choose to stay here. I can't. If I don't choose, it's going to make the decision _for_ me."

I stepped forward and cupped her face in my hands, fighting back my own emotions to help her deal with hers. "There's no real choice here, Rose. You have to choose to _live_. My time should be coming soon, and I can find you. But for now… For now, you have to go home and _live_."

She nodded and a tear hit my hand as it fell from her lashes. "I love you. Please come soon."

"God, I hope so," I replied and pulled her in for an embrace.

I wanted to hold her forever, but she reluctantly pulled away after only a minute. "It's time."

Nodding, I gently pushed her towards the light. "Then, go. I'll see you soon. I love you."

"I love you, too."

A short walk later, she disappeared through the door of light.

And it felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest.

_Rose…_


	22. My Time

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to work extra hard and even put up two chapters on several days, in addition to at least one chapter every day. I have most of them written already, though, so I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which might even be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty-Two: My Time**

It was so lonely without Rose.

I tossed and turned at nights, slept for two hours, and woke up begging the universe to let me go back to my body so that I could find her.

My days were filled with endless wandering on that beach where I had first met her. I would stare off into the distance, listening to the waves crashing on the sand as I watched for any sign of the light that would take me home to her.

"Please, don't forget about me, Rose," I whispered to the universe one evening, a week after Rose had gone home. "Please fight for us. Come and find me. Or let me find you. But don't forget."

It was as if she'd heard me.

A light appeared, and I held my breath as it slowly began to widen, making a portal right where the sand and the water met.

A door.

_My_ door.

I stood and, as I did, I felt it calling to me. Not like a voice… just like a… feeling. It was _my_ ticket to life or death, and I had to decide which I was going to choose.

As if there was even a choice to be made.

"Life," I said aloud as I approached. "I choose life. I choose _Rose_."

The exaltation that I felt as I stepped through the shining portal was like nothing I had ever experienced before. My whole body seemed to spring to life and all around me the light bent and twisted, carrying me to my destination.

This time, I didn't slam into my body. It was like some invisible hand gently lowered me down, until I was finally there.

Home.

"Steve?"

I recognized the voice, but my head was still spinning from the suddenness of it all.

_What's that annoying beeping?_

"Steve, hey, come on, buddy."

"Danny," a new voice replied softly. _Adam_. "Just because the doctors said that he was responding to stimuli, doesn't mean-"

In true Danny fashion, Danny cut him off. "I just _saw_ him move his fingers. Just watch."

"You've been here all night, Danny." Adam's tone was much like I imagined a father placating his child would be. "Maybe you just need to go home and get some rest. I'll sit here with him for the day."

The irritation in Danny's voice was so familiar. "He _moved his fingers_, Adam. Watch. Just watch."

Silence.

_Now or never_, I told myself.

It took far more effort than it should have to wiggle my fingers, but it was entirely worth it to hear Adam's gasp and Danny's yelp of excitement.

"Get a doctor! Get a doctor!" Danny shouted at Adam, and footsteps quickly left the room.

"Steve," Danny said, standing closer to me now. "Thank goodness. Do you think you can open your eyes? The doctor is on his way."

It was one of the most difficult things I'd ever done, but I finally managed to force my leaden eyelids open.

Danny's face was the first one that I saw and, while I had hoped that it would be Rose's, it was still sweet. I had missed him so much.

There were tears in Danny's eyes as he smiled at me. "Hey. Welcome back."

My throat was too dry to respond, not that there would have been much time to do so anyway, because the doctor came rushing in with three nurses right behind him.

He introduced himself, asked me how I was feeling, and one of the nurses got me some water when I tried to choke out an answer. There was a quick examination involving light and reflexes and questions, and then began the fun.

There was test after test, scan after scan. They gave me a quick break so that I could eat something, but then it was back at it. They wanted to test every little part of me to make sure that I was – as I had told them multiple times – "fine".

"You can't be too careful with someone that's only just come out of a coma," the doctor would tell me when I asked him how many more tests really had to be performed. "It seems like a lot now, but soon, it'll all be behind you. We just have to cover all of the bases."

Finally, _finally,_ they said that they had run their last test and drawn their last vial of blood.

_For now_.

Still, at least I got a break.

But not really, because then the entire team was in my room, ready with dinner and tales of all of the interesting cases that I had missed.

Of course, I had missed them all terribly… it's just that I had much more important things on my mind.

"Jerry." I signaled to him right as he was about to leave. The others were already gone, save for Adam and Danny, who were conversing out in the hallway. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jerry said eagerly as he made his way over to my bedside. "Anything you need. What's up?"

"Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?"

He had to dig around in his pockets for a few moments, but he finally came up with them and handed them to me.

I scribbled on it and then handed them back to him.

"I need you to look her up," I told him. "And, Jerry? This stays between us, okay?"

Though he seemed confused, he nodded. "Sure. No problem. I'll get right on this."

"Thank you."


	23. Lost

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to work extra hard and even put up two chapters on several days, in addition to at least one chapter every day. I have most of them written already, though, so I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which might even be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Lost**

It was another week before they let me out of the hospital. Though frustrating, it was understandable. My body was weak after nearly two months in a coma, and it was best to take it easy for the first little bit. Easily the worst part of it all was needing help with almost every single thing that I did.

On the day that I was finally released, the entire team came to help me get home. I had firmly protested the extended use of a wheelchair at the hospital. Thanks to inpatient physical therapy – as well as the promise of continued physical therapy appointments – they had given me a cane to use for a while.

Lou had apparently spent the entire morning at my house cooking what appeared to be a feast for an entire platoon of soldiers. Ham, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, rolls… not to mention, several pies.

"It's not Thanksgiving, Lou," Danny told him as he took it all in. "When I asked you to have lunch ready, I meant, like, order some pizzas or something."

"Man, have you ever _had_ leftover pizza?" Lou rebutted incredulously. "No. This way, Steve will have plenty of leftovers that don't taste like soggy cardboard."

As they continued to bicker, everyone else began to load their plates and take seats at the table. The food was, of course, delicious, and the conversation flowed easily. The team caught me up on all of the cases that I had missed, and I was extremely proud of the way that they had handled everything in my absence.

"Oh," Tani said at one point and went to fetch a small bag. "We've been keeping all of your cards in here so that you can open them at your leisure."

"You can leave them on the coffee table," I requested.

"We had people come in to clean the house once a week," Danny told me, even though he'd told me all of this at the hospital. "I'm sure it's not up to your standards, but you'll have it whipped back into shape in no time."

There was a game on TV, and everyone gathered in the living room to watch it and continue to talk and snack on some of the food that still remained. I was just waiting for them to leave so that I could ask Jerry if he'd found Rose yet.

While everyone was talking about a terrible call in the game, Danny scooted a bit closer to me and lowered his voice. "You know, Catherine came to see you in the hospital."

Did I dare tell him that I knew that already? That I had heard several of the conversations that people had tried to have with me while I'd been unconscious? Or would he think that was too strange? Would he even believe it?

I finally decided to play it safe. Play dumb. "Did she?"

Danny nodded. "I called her the day after…" He inhaled sharply. "The day after you were shot. She was on assignment, but she took off immediately to come and be there. She stayed as long as she could. Hardly left your side."

It didn't make me feel what he had expected me to. It was nice that she would do that, sure, but I felt nothing but a friendly affection for her. If she had been shot, I likely would have done the same. For love of everything that we had shared.

"That… was nice of her."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "That's it? That's _all_ you have to say about that?"

"Catherine and I are over, Danny. Have been for a long time. We'll always be there for each other, sure, but… That's it. It doesn't change what I feel for her."

"I think that swelling in your head did more damage than they thought," he murmured, but joined in on the arguing about the game before I could say anything else.

One by one, everyone began to file out. As they left, they gave me well wishes and told me how glad they were that I was finally home. Adam promised to come by tomorrow to check in on me. Danny did the same. Lou told me the best way to reheat every single one of the dishes that he had prepared.

Finally, Jerry was the only one left. He had been cleaning up in the kitchen, out of sight of all of the others. When he saw me come into the kitchen, he set aside the last pan on the drying mat beside the sink and began to dry his hands.

"Thought I'd give you one less thing to have to do tonight."

"I appreciate it," I said, and I did. "Did you… did you happen to have a chance to look into the woman that I told you about?"

"Yeah, yeah." He headed for his bag, which had been stashed under his seat at the table. From within it, he withdrew a beige folder and held it out to me. "That's everything."

I took it and began to thumb through it.

As I looked, he continued to talk. "She's pretty impressive. Big deal in the music world. Broadway, independent albums, a couple of operas… She was actually in a coma recently, just like you. She came out of it a couple of weeks ago."

"In New York." I found the news article outlining the attack. It was the last piece of paper in the folder. "Did you find how to contact her?"

"I tried. I called the hospital, but they said that she had already been discharged. I also called her mother, who hasn't heard from her. Her cell phone went straight to voicemail, but it's possible she lost it in the attack."

I found myself unable to take my eyes off of the picture of her, smiling.

I longed to be wherever she was.

But…

_Did she forget about me?_

"Hey," Jerry said, voice soft. "How… how do you know this woman, anyway?"

"It's a long story, Jerry. A _very_ long story."

Perhaps knowing that I wasn't ready to talk about it, Jerry simply nodded and moved to leave.


	24. I'll Never Forget

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to work extra hard and even put up two chapters on several days, in addition to at least one chapter every day. I have most of them written already, though, so I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which might even be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty-Four: I'll Never Forget**

Rose was there on my laptop screen, giving an interview with a late-night television host that I'd never watched before. She was dressed in a lovely red dress, her hair neatly curled and her makeup light but perfect. Her eyes… God, those blue eyes were glowing.

"Do you ever hear people singing or humming on the subway and think '_oh, my God, they're horrible. Please shut up.'_?" the host asked, and the audience laughed.

Rose laughed as well, and I felt my heart begin to ache at the familiar sound. "I mean, I try not to. I think that when you're trained in something, it's only instinctual to notice it. But I never say anything. I try to just… think of something else."

"You never show off?"

She laughed again. "No, I really don't."

"Because if I could sing like _you_," he continued, "I would sing _all the time_. Seriously, I would sing _everything_." He demonstrated by singing a horrible song about drinking his coffee and ended it with a long drink.

The audience clapped and cheered, but I could only roll my eyes.

He asked her a question about what she did to get ready for a performance, but before she could answer, there was a knock on my front door.

I paused the video, shut the laptop, and went to answer it.

It was Danny.

"You don't have to check on me, you know. I'm fine. Plenty of food and water."

"But has anyone taken you to the vet recently or given you a treat for not making a mess in the house?" Without being invited, he stepped over the threshold and passed me a small box of malasadas as he did. "Do you have any coffee?"

With a sigh, I shut the door. "I had my coffee two hours ago. I can make more, though, if you want."

"Don't bother; I'll do it." He made his way to the kitchen. "Your coffee has a tendency to taste a bit like rocket fuel sometimes. And you're out of practice."

I followed him into the kitchen and munched on a malasada as he began to fill the pot with water. "But you're not here to _check_ on me, right? Because if the roles were reversed, I know that you would hate that."

"I would," he agreed. "And that's not what I'm doing. I came by to update you on a case that we have. I've been in charge since you decided to take an untimely vacation, and I'm more than ready for you to come back."

I grinned. "Can't handle it?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course, I can handle it, Steven. The paperwork is just incredibly annoying. I'd rather lounge at my desk and play games on my computer while you handle that."

"I _knew_ that's what you did."

The coffee machine began to gurgle as it began to brew, and Danny studied me for a moment. "Did you get any sleep?"

Actually, I hadn't gotten much sleep at all. I'd been far too busy thinking about Rose and how I was going to find her. My suspicion was that she had gone underground to try to keep herself safe from her stalker. But, then… why hadn't she just come directly to Hawaii to find me? Didn't she know that I could keep her safe?

Then again, she had left the in-between before I did. There was a chance that she hadn't known how long it would take me to wake up, so she didn't know if she could rely on me. It wasn't like anyone from my team would have believed her insane-sounding story. I couldn't blame her for whatever she had decided to do to keep herself safe.

I only hoped that it had worked.

Finally, I answered Danny's question. "I think I've slept plenty, don't you?"

He nailed me with a hard look. "Being in a coma is not the same thing. You still need rest. How do you feel?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, mildly amused. "I thought you _weren't_ here to check up on me?"

"I'm not." He turned and started to pour himself a cup of coffee. "Just making conversation."

"Can you make conversation about something else?" I finished off my malasada. "Didn't you want to tell me about a case?"

"Yeah, yeah." He moved for the table. "Let's sit down."

I joined him at the table, and he launched into the tale of the latest big crime on the island. I listened and gave advice where I could, though he didn't seem to appreciate that as much as I thought he should.

"Anything else?" I asked him when he had concluded.

"Not that I can think of." He drained the rest of his coffee and set the mug aside.

I pointed to it. "The least you could do is wash that out." I held up the cane that I had been begrudgingly using. "I'm a cripple, after all."

He rolled his eyes at me, but grabbed the mug and made his way over to the sink. "I'm guessing you want me to wash the coffeepot, too."

"Well, _I_ didn't use it." I fought a smile. "It's the polite thing to do."

Grumbling the entire time, he washed the coffeepot and set it on the drying mat to dry. "There," he said as he dried his hands off on a nearby towel. "Happy?"

_Happy_?

No, I wasn't. And I didn't think that I would truly be until I found Rose again.

I just didn't know how I was going to go about that when she had gone so far underground. But I knew that I would find a way.

"I am," I answered him, and forced a small smile. "I think I'm going to go and rest for a bit."

I certainly needed it.


	25. An Unbelievable Story

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to work extra hard and even put up two chapters on several days, in addition to at least one chapter every day. I have most of them written already, though, so I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which might even be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty-Five: An Unbelievable Story**

Danny hadn't shown up alone; Adam and Lou were with him.

I had a feeling that I knew what it was about.

With a sigh, I moved aside to let them in. "Come in."

"Don't act so excited to see us," Danny muttered as he passed.

I rolled my eyes. "Give me a break. I just got back from physical therapy."

Adam, always the peacekeeper, clucked his tongue in sympathy. "How's _that_ going?"

"As boring as you'd expect, but today, they said they would allow me to do some time without my cane. That'll help."

"That's good," Lou agreed. "That thing can really slow you down."

"And make your shoulder ache," I added and looked around at all of them. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this surprise?"

They all exchanged looks, and it was Danny that finally spoke. "You've seemed… different."

"Well, I _did_ just wake up from a coma. The doctor said that some changes in behavior are to be expected for the first couple of months."

"It's not so much a change in _behavior_…" Danny paused and looked to Lou for help.

"It's more… well…" Lou struggled for a few seconds. "You seem… _preoccupied_."

"Could that not be due to the fact that I almost _died_?"

Danny's eyes narrowed. "You're avoiding."

"You're _annoying_," I rebutted.

He didn't even blink. "That's _still_ avoiding."

Adam jumped in before anything else could be said on either side. "The _reason_ that we came today was to suggest that you see a counselor. It would be completely paid for, since this happened as a result of a workplace injury. It would probably be good to just… get it all out there and have someone help you work through it."

"I don't _need_ someone to help me get through it," I said. "I was shot, _she's_ being punished, and I came out of a coma better than most people do. It's not the first time I've been shot, guys. And, to be honest, I've had it a lot worse than this most recent incident. I think we can all agree on that."

"I mean, there _was_ the time that I had to give you half of my liver so that you could survive," Danny allowed. "That was… that was worse."

"But _something_ has been on your mind," Lou cut in. "We've all noticed it. If you just tell us, maybe we can help you work it out. But you don't need to be out here all alone trying to get through it. Believe me, I know all about that. You want to be tough and deal with it by yourself, but that's not going to get you anywhere."

Yes, Lou _would_ know all about that. He'd once become so depressed about the outcome of a case that he had been planning to commit suicide. Luckily, his son had skipped school that day and unknowingly prevented it.

Thank goodness for that.

"I'm going to be fine, guys." I was frustrated because they were keeping me from my research, but I couldn't let on. "I just need more rest."

"That's something I never thought I'd hear Steve McGarrett say," Adam admitted.

"No kidding." Lou pinned me with an intent look. "There's something you're not telling us."

Danny nodded. "I concur."

I groaned in frustration. "Believe me when I say that you wouldn't believe me even if I told you. But it's nothing bad, okay? Just… something I need to figure out."

All of their eyebrows raised simultaneously. It would have been funny if they weren't so annoying to me in that moment.

"We're all ears," Lou finally said when it became clear that I wasn't going to continue. "And we'll keep our mouths shut during the entire story."

I looked to Danny, raising my own eyebrows. "Really?"

Danny looked offended that I would ever suggest that he didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. "Why are you looking at me? Just tell the story or whatever."

"And you'll wait until I'm finished to say anything?"

"Not even clarifying questions?"

I looked at Lou and gestured to Danny. "See? He won't."

"He will, or I'll knock him upside the head." Lou's voice was slightly threatening. "Now, please, tell us what's going on inside that head of yours."

"It's… _odd_, to say the least," I warned.

"As if we don't see odd things every single day." Adam gave me an encouraging smile. "Come on, Steve. It's _us_."

"Fine, fine."

_They're going to think that you've gone insane. They'll probably have you thrown into the psych ward of the hospital immediately. _

After a deep breath, I launched into the tale, getting the words out as quickly as I could, as if that would make it sound more believable to them.

"When I went into the coma, my… _spirit, soul… whatever_… went to a place called the _in-between_. It's the place where your… soul goes to rest while your body recovers. I won't explain any further about the actual place, because I can see how you're all looking at me, but it's _real_. And while I was there, I met this woman. Rose. And she… she's… We're soul mates, and I think that this place – this _accident_ – brought us together. But she went back to her body before I did, so now I'm trying to track her down."

There was complete and utter silence as they all stared at me, surprised at what had just come out of my mouth.

After what felt like an eternity, Danny looked at the other two and asked, "Psych ward?"

I huffed and pulled Jerry's file out from a drawer of the coffee table. "I know that you think I'm crazy, but _look_ at this." I handed it to Danny. "That's her. That's _Rose_. Explain to me how that's possible."

Danny slowly opened the file and seemed only more confused. "This is…"

"Unbelievable, I know," I finished for him. "But it's _real_. Can you believe me?"


	26. I Won't Give Up

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to work extra hard and even put up two chapters on several days, in addition to at least one chapter every day. I have most of them written already, though, so I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which might even be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty-Six: I Won't Give Up**

"Steve, this is…"

Just as Danny was about to say _'crazy'_, Lou slapped a hand over his mouth and took over. "As you said… a bit _unbelievable_. I mean… it's possible that you _dreamed_ falling in love with someone and this… between place."

"_In-_between," I corrected automatically. "And it wasn't a dream. Occasionally, I came back to my body to see how well I was healing. I heard conversations. I knew that Catherine had been there. Look, I _know_ that it's a hard thing to believe, but how do you explain that Jerry was able to look up the exact woman that I met there?"

"Maybe you'd heard her sing before?" Adam suggested. "Maybe even right before everything that happened? She could have just been a part of your memories and you… dreamed about her."

I shook my head. "I don't listen to her kind of music. And she's the exact same woman that I _saw_ there. Believe me, I don't watch Broadway shows or musicals. I'd never seen her before the in-between."

Danny surprised me by saying, "I'll admit, it _is_ a little… _strange_ that Jerry was able to look up the exact woman that you saw. But I'm with Adam. Maybe you heard her sing or saw her on TV or something."

I reached over and snatched the file from him. After a bit of flipping through pages, I pulled out the news articles about her accident. "Then how do you explain that she _also_ had an accident and ended up in a coma? A coma that has a timeline that coincides with mine."

Danny snatched the papers and began to read, Lou leaning closer to read over his shoulder.

Adam just waited.

After what seemed like far longer than what they needed to read a few articles, Danny handed them over to Adam and looked at me. "Okay… I'll admit… _that_ is a little strange. But… she went into her coma before you did. I still think that it's entirely possible that you saw the story on the news while you were eating lunch or something, and it was in the back of your mind. Lou?"

Lou nodded slowly, though I could see the doubt in his eyes that he was trying so hard to hide. "I think… I think that could be the case. I mean, comas are… comas are a loss of consciousness. It would make sense that you would have dreams."

"It wasn't a _dream_." I had to put in so much effort to keep from sounding like I wanted to rip their heads off. "I was _living_ my life, just in a different place. It wasn't like a bunch of episodes of a TV show. It was _life_."

"I think that at the very least, we should be considering this as a possibility."

Everyone looked at Adam in surprise, though I also felt relief.

He shrugged. "What? Strange things happen sometimes. I'm not someone that normally believes in coincidences… and this is _a lot_ of coincidences. I think we should consider it as reality."

Danny and Lou looked at him like _he_ was the one that had gone crazy.

I smiled. "Thank you."

Danny sighed. "Why don't you tell us about her? Not the facts about what songs she sings or which musicals she performed in, but about _her_. What's she like?"

There was a lot that I could have said about her. It was difficult to choose which things to say.

"She… she's funny. She can make a joke about anything. She's incredibly focused; she's been training in music since she was a toddler. Her sense of humor is mostly sarcasm, a little dry. She's an incredible cook, especially when it comes to Italian food because she spent a lot of time in Italy studying with one of her voice coaches. I swear, she could learn to do anything. She picks things up incredibly quickly. And her voice… I swear, it's what angels sound like. She's… she's such an incredible person."

It was silent for a few moments.

Lou spoke first. "You know… I think I'm gonna move on over to Adam's side."

Danny was bewildered. "Seriously?"

"Did you not see the love in his eyes while he was talking about her?" Lou asked Danny. "That's not something that happens for someone you meet in one of your dreams. That's real."

Danny thought for a moment and then studied me, almost as if he was trying to read my mind. I wished that he could, because then he would know how very real the entire story was.

"I need to find her, Danny," I told him softly. I knew that he could see the desperation in my eyes and hear it in my voice. "I won't give up. And it would mean a lot to me if, even if you can't believe me, you would support me."

After a few moments, he nodded. "Okay. I can do that. We," he gestured to himself as well as Lou and Adam, "will help you track down Rose. I have some contacts left in New York that I can tap, and we can get the team on it in the meantime."

The smile on my face felt like it was going to split my skull in half. "Thank you, Danny."

He nodded and stood. "For the record, I still think this is crazy. But I also think that it's incredibly important to you, so I'm in."

"That's all I can ask for."

I gave them a few more details, and then they took off so that they could update the team.

After they were gone, I opened the laptop and stared at the frozen frame of Rose on the screen.

"Don't worry," I said softly. "I won't give up. We'll be together again."


	27. The End of a Journey

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to work extra hard and even put up two chapters on several days, in addition to at least one chapter every day. I have most of them written already, though, so I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which might even be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: The End of a Journey**

I returned to work, but it didn't give me as much joy as I had thought that it would. My house was a constant reminder of Rose because of all of the time that we had spent there together in the in-between. I had thought that being away from it would be a relief, but I had also taken Rose to headquarters during our time in the in-between. I saw her everywhere.

My physical therapist had allowed me to cease use of the cane unless I felt like I really needed it (as if _that_ would happen) as long as I promised to make it to every single one of my appointments and follow the restrictions that she had set for me. That made my transition easier, even though the team was constantly checking up on me, making sure that I wasn't overdoing it.

No one had found any good leads on Rose, which was the worst part of the entire ordeal. It had been a little over a month since she'd come out of her coma, and it was like she had just vanished into thin air. Here one day, gone the next. None of her family or close friends seemed to know how to get in contact with her. Everything was turning into a dead end.

I was growing more and more discouraged every single day.

To cheer me up, Jerry brought in and set up a karaoke machine for me to find one evening. The lyrics to an Elvis song were on the screen, Jerry was singing into the microphone, and Tani and Junior were arguing over who got to choose a song next.

I walked up to where Danny, Lou, and Adam were standing in a small cluster, watching the goings on with amusement. _I_, however, was not so amused. Karaoke reminded me far too much of Rose.

"What's all of this?" I asked.

"Exactly what it _looks_ like," Danny replied. "Jerry thought it would cheer you up if we all did some karaoke together."

"It didn't occur to him that karaoke might make me _more_ upset? Remind me of Rose?"

There was sympathy in Lou's eyes. "He's just trying to help, Steve. Hell, I'm glad _someone_ came up with _something_. Every day that we don't find something on her, you get more and more depressed."

"Maybe you can go next," Adam said to lighten the mood.

Unfortunately, Jerry had just concluded his song and heard that. His entire face lit up as he came towards me and extended the microphone. "That's a great idea! What do you want me to put on for you?"

Tani pulled up the song list on the screen as Junior began calling out titles of songs that he thought I would know.

I gently pushed the microphone away. "No, thanks, Jerry. I'm not a good singer. Good thought, though. Thanks, anyway."

His face fell ever so slightly, but I could tell that he was trying to remain upbeat. "Oh. Okay. Danny?" He offered up the microphone.

"Now _that_ would certainly cheer me up." Unbidden, a smile spread on my face.

Lou smiled as well and clapped Danny on the shoulder. "You gotta do it, Danny. It would cheer Steve up."

Danny narrowed his eyes at me. "How convenient that karaoke isn't such a bad idea for you anymore."

I shrugged. "Go on, Danny."

With a dramatic sigh, Danny accepted the microphone and moved forward to the unofficial stage area. Junior asked him what he wanted to sing as Tani continued to scroll through the massive list of songs. After a few moments, Danny sighed in frustration. "Just pick a damn song. I don't care. Is there a shuffle option?"

Tani messed with the controls and finally found what she was looking for. "Ah, yes, there is. Cool. Okay, I'll push it whenever you're ready. Just let me know."

Danny shifted slightly to shoot me an annoyed look. "I hate you." Once I acknowledged that by blowing him a kiss, he turned back to the screen, took a deep breath, and nodded. "I'm ready."

With flair, Tani pressed the shuffle button and moved aside to be completely out of Danny's way.

An orchestra began to play as the album cover popped up on the screen, along with the title and artist.

_I Dreamed a Dream._

_Rose Thomas._

_Les Misérables._

My heart began to sink in my chest.

Danny groaned in frustration and annoyance, oblivious to my momentary crisis. "I don't know this song. I don't listen to crap like that."

"_I dreamed a dream in time gone by, when hope was high and life worth living. I dreamed that love would never die. I dreamed that God would be forgiving…"_

I'd heard Rose sing it so many times that her voice was stuck in my head, singing the words where Danny couldn't.

"_Then I was young and unafraid. And dreams were made and used and wasted. There was no ransom to be paid. No song unsung, no wine untasted…"_

"Steve," Adam said next to me, but I could hardly hear him over the rush of emotions.

"_But the tigers come at night, with their voices soft as thunder. As they tear your hope apart… As they turn your dream to shame…"_

Lou nudged me, none too gently. "Steve!"

Annoyed, I turned to look where he was gesturing. "_What_?"

But then I saw.

Very clearly, I saw.

"Rose…"


	28. Our Real World

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to work extra hard and even put up two chapters on several days, in addition to at least one chapter every day. I have most of them written already, though, so I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which might even be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Our Real World**

"You're… here," I breathed.

And she was.

She _really_ was.

Rose was standing at the end of the short hallway by the elevator, dressed in jeans and a pink blouse. I recognized the sparkly sandals that she was wearing from our time in the in-between. Her blond hair was wavy, her blue eyes accented only by mascara. She'd once told me that she preferred to wear as little makeup as possible.

Still, she looked radiant.

Perfect.

"You're here," I repeated, though it felt like I was saying it only for my own benefit. To convince myself that it was all real.

"Commander?"

The officer that had accompanied her was looking between me and Rose, obviously confused about what was happening.

"Okay to leave her here?" he asked me.

I nodded so quickly that I was surprised my head didn't snap off of my neck. "Yeah, of course. She can stay."

He took one last look at the two of us, shrugged, and then headed for the elevator.

The silence in the room was deafening.

Finally, Danny stepped forward and approached her. "He's obviously going to be frozen for a couple of minutes. Hi, I'm Danny. You must be Rose."

She shifted her attention to him and shook his hand, smiling. "Yes. Nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

"Same here," he responded and gestured everyone else forward. "Guys, come meet Rose. This is Lou, Adam, Tani, and Junior. Oh, and Jerry. The karaoke was his brilliant idea."

"Hold on, hold on!" I called as I stepped forward, finally coming back to life.

Everyone froze and turned to look at me, waiting.

I cleared my throat and reached out to grab Rose's hand. "We'll return momentarily."

"Take your time," Lou teasingly called after us. "We'll just be right here!"

As soon as the elevator doors closed behind us, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. It felt even better than how I had thought it would… like the in-between, only better because we both knew that it was _real_.

The doors opened and I gently pulled her out, down the hallway, and then out the back door. There, I pulled her into my arms and held her tightly, determined to never let her go again.

"You're _here_."

"I think that's the _third_ time you've said that," she noted, sounding slightly out of breath.

"I'll probably _keep_ saying it." I inhaled the familiar scent of her. "I was starting to think that you had decided to forget all about the in-between."

"It's not the kind of thing that one can easily forget." She pulled back from me to smile. "Nor are _you_."

"I tried looking for you. You had already checked out of the hospital and your friends and family had no idea where you'd gone."

"I didn't get to check out of the hospital until a week after I had come out of my coma. Even then, it was slow going. I _still_ feel like I'm ten times weaker than I used to be."

"Tell me about it," I muttered.

She smiled knowingly. "I checked out as soon as I could and accepted a police escort back to my apartment to pack up what I would need. I stayed with a friend while I made some arrangements to get rid of my apartment and make the move out here. And here I am."

"We were watching for your name to pop up," I told her, still confused. "It should have sent us an alert as soon as you were scanned in to enter your flight."

"I didn't fly out under my own name." She smiled teasingly at me. "Don't arrest me."

"Never."

She stepped into my arms again and sighed with contentment. "I guess you were right. We _were_ meant to be together and it all worked out for the best. I had my doubts."

"I have half a mind to whisk you away to a beach and marry you today to put those doubts to rest permanently."

Laughing, she took a step back. "Is that a proposal?"

She had been half-teasing, and I easily could have played it off, but why do that when I was so certain about what I wanted for my life? Getting shot and sent into a coma had taught me that life is short, and you have to take advantage of every moment of happiness that's offered to you. I wasn't going to wait around for love anymore. Instead, I was going to actively fight for it and take advantage of every second that I could get.

"It is," I replied, watching her eyes widen in surprise. "The in-between was perfect not because I could snap my fingers and make a plate of malasadas appear, but because _you_ were there. How many things had to line up so perfectly for us to meet and fall in love? That's not _chance_."

One of her eyebrows arched. "Are you saying it was _fate_?"

"Are you saying it _wasn't_?" I challenged.

After a few moments of quiet contemplation, she said, "I mean, when you put it like _that_…" She grinned at me. "If that's a proposal, then I accept. Even though everyone is going to think that we're insane."

I waved her concern away. "That's fine. They can think what they want. I know the perfect secluded beach to exchange our vows on. We _do_ need a beach permit, but I have some pull with the governor. How quickly do you think you can find a dress?"

She laughed and linked her arm with mine, pulling me back towards the building. "I bet that if you get back to work, I can go shopping and get it done by the end of the day."

I pulled her in even closer and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "You know, as wonderful as the in-between was… our real world is even better."


	29. Happily Ever After

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**My plan is to have the story finished by the time that season 10 premiers, which is supposed to be on September 27. That will mean that I will have to work extra hard and even put up two chapters on several days, in addition to at least one chapter every day. I have most of them written already, though, so I think that I can do it. Especially with encouragement from you all in the form of reviews, favorites, and follows! I also welcome private messages – I love communicating with my readers. You all have been so supportive, and I can't thank you enough. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. Obviously, being behind means that the update schedule will be a little odd for a bit, but I think that I can catch up. I have a plan in place, and I'm certain that I'll be able to pull it off. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which might even be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Happily Ever After**

Rose and I were married on the same beach where we had first met in the in-between. In fact, the day was so reminiscent of that day in the in-between that I was confident that it was meant to be. In the three days prior to the wedding, it had rained almost nonstop, and Rose had been worried that our sunset wedding ceremony would be ruined.

"The universe wouldn't do that," I had promised her, and I had thankfully been right.

The team thought that I was crazy, but they all had to admit that the entire situation was rather crazy – that two people thousands of miles apart could somehow meet while they were in a coma. No one tried to talk me out of it, which was good because there was no way in hell that they would have succeeded. Instead, they were all incredibly supportive and willingly took up tasks to help us complete the setup on time.

There was no aisle to walk down and no formal seating – just me, Rose, and a small gathering of our very close friends. Duke – surprisingly an ordained minister – had agreed to perform the ceremony, and he stood in front of us while our friends formed a loose semi-circle on the other side, watching and smiling.

Duke talked about love, commitment, and marriage, but I had a hard time listening because I couldn't stop staring at Rose. She had found a flowy white dress that hadn't been designed for a wedding, but still fit ours perfectly. Her hair had been elegantly pinned up, and she wore a beautiful flower crown on her head. She wore a little more makeup than she normally would, but I didn't think that was the reason that she was glowing. Happiness radiated off of her like heat off the sun.

We had written our own vows, and I was asked to go first. I had written them all out almost immediately after I had proposed, but I had been so nervous that I would forget every single word. Somehow, though, I pulled through and remembered everything that I had wanted to promise to her.

Then, it was Rose's turn to go.

"I'm not as eloquent as all that," she said as she swiped a tear away before it could fall.

Our audience chuckled.

She continued. "But, I'm going to give it a go anyway. Steve, I honestly never thought that I was going to get married. I never thought that those crazy _falling in love_ moments from the movies actually happened. But they do, and they did for me, and I'm _so_ thankful that they did. I promise all of the normal things that people do in their vows: to love you, be there in good times and bad, in sickness and in health… But most of all, I promise to always remember the miracle of how we met and to never take you or our love for granted. I vow to do my part to make this the perfect happily ever after."

I didn't even wait for Duke to say that I could kiss the bride.

But I don't think that anyone minded.

**Three Months Later**

"Remind me before the next Christmas party with that group that I do _not_ want to drink any of Duke's eggnog," I begged her as we walked through the door of our home.

_Our_ home.

My family's home for years, but now the home that we shared together. Junior had been able to find a new place incredibly quickly, and so Rose and I had come back from our honeymoon to a home that was just ours to share together. Hopefully, someday, we would get to share it with our children.

She laughed and locked the door behind us. "I think Danny needs that warning more than you do. Do you think Adam got him home okay?"

"Oh, yeah. They'll be fine. Hey, look." I pointed to the clock on the wall.

Her face lit up. "Midnight. It's officially Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." I pulled her in for a long, slow, burning kiss that left both of us breathless when I finally pulled away.

"Merry Christmas," she echoed. "Wait for presents or go ahead and open them?"

"I say that we go ahead and open them, and then sleep in as late as we want tomorrow."

"Sounds spectacular."

She led the way over to the beautifully decorated tree that we had put up together almost a month earlier. I'd never particularly enjoyed decorating for the holidays, but it had been impossible to resist Rose's pleading. And, I'd actually been surprised to discover that it was a lot of fun to do it with my wife.

"You first," I insisted, but she stopped me as I went to grab her small pile of presents.

"I think _you_ should go first," she disagreed and pulled me back towards the couch. "There's one in particular that I'm excited for you to open."

She was practically bouncing with energy and excitement, so I couldn't turn her down. I sat down on the couch and nodded. "Okay, then. I'll go first."

From under the tree, she pulled out a small, rectangular box elegantly wrapped in gold paper and garnished with a red bow. As with most things, Rose was an expert at gift wrapping.

"Here you go," she said and watched me take the box from her.

I felt like a little kid as I excitedly tore off the bow and ripped into the paper. Once the box was unwrapped, I took off the lid and stared down at the white and blue stick, momentarily confused before I read the word in the little window:

_Pregnant_

"Rose…"

My new wife was glowing in front of the tree. "Surprised?"

"Overjoyed," I corrected her, and thanked every force in the universe for bringing me the two most precious gifts in the world.


	30. The Other Side

…**..**

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to the story! I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and I hope that your enjoyment continues. Also, a big thanks to those of you that have reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. Your encouragement means the world to me. Keep it up!**

**This will be the final chapter, and it will be much shorter than the others because of that. This is just the conclusion that I've always had in mind, and I didn't want to drag it out and just fill it with nonsense. Endings are always bittersweet, but I've sincerely enjoyed this journey and I hope that you have as well. **

**I fell way behind these last couple of weeks, and I do so apologize for that. I've had WAY too much on my plate lately, and some things just had to be paused for a little bit so that I could catch up. This season of my life is super busy and gets incredibly stressful when I get a lot of stuff going on all at once. Thanks to those of you that sent private messages checking up on me, and all those who kept reminding me that they've not lost interest in the story and are eagerly awaiting the next chapter. You guys mean so very much to me. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the Hawaii Five-O characters, though I certainly wish that I did. All of the OCs are of my own creation. And, similarly to my last Hawaii Five-O story, I will not be following the timeline of the show, nor will I use every single plot that they've introduced. I really only use the characters and a few of the storylines. So, if you're reading something and you think, "no, that can't be right because Steve had already met Catherine" or "but that doesn't make sense because Danny said this in season two…" just know that it does make sense in my own little Hawaii Five-O universe.**

**Also, in the first chapter, there were some people that complained that I said that Steve killed Hassan when he did not. This is true, and that's not what I meant. It was meant to be a metaphorical "death" due to the nature of this story, but I realize that might have been a bit premature as it was in the very first chapter. I will be rewriting it so that it makes more sense, but the rewrite has not happened yet. I promise, I'll get to it. Maybe once I catch up… which will have to be after the story concludes. Oops. **

**Happy Reading!**

…**..**

**Epilogue: The Other Side**

"A failing heart," I rasped out, trying to chuckle at the ridiculous nature of it all. "You always told me that I had a soft heart."

Rose gripped my hand tightly, tears in her eyes. Our children had gone down to the cafeteria after staying up with me all night. The time was coming, and it was somehow so right that it was just me and Rose now.

"It was a good heart. It just worked a little too hard."

"I don't regret it."

We'd had forty years and four children (including one set of twin boys) together, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything. My life after I'd met Rose had been absolutely perfect.

"I wish I could wait for you in the in-between," I told her softly.

"I'll see you on the _other_ _side_ of that," she said softly. "Who knows? Maybe it'll be even better."

Bringing her hand to my lips, I kissed it gently. "With you there, I'm certain it will be."

We just sat there together for nearly an hour. Right up until I could _feel_ it.

It was coming soon.

"Sing to me," I requested, and she did.

The love that I felt for her – and for our family – stayed behind as I quietly slipped away, so very thankful for life, love, and the mysterious in-between.


End file.
